The ten greatest NON-ENGLISH poems
I recently wrote an article on the ten greatest English language poems, so I thought it would be only fair to grant equal time to non-English poems and the marvelous poets who wrote them...
These are the ten greatest non-English poems by some of the world’s greatest poets, followed by a number of strong contenders for the top ten. Poets represented here include Homer, Sappho, Virgil, Dante, Li Bai, Basho, Catullus, Mahmoud Darwish, Du Fu, Erinna, Mirza Ghalib, Goethe, Lorca, Neruda, Rilke, Rumi, Tagore, Fadwa Tuqan and Tzu Yeh.
Please keep in mind that this is just one poetry lover’s opinion.
I present the top ten poems in roughly chronological order, relying on my aging memory, then the runners-up as they popped into my mind…
HOMER
Excerpt from the Odyssey:
Passage home? Impossible! Surely you have something else in mind, Goddess, urging me to cross the ocean's endless expanse in a raft. So vast, so full of danger! Hell, sometimes not even the sea-worthiest ships can prevail, aided as they are by Zeus's mighty breath! I'll never set foot on a raft, Goddess, until you swear by all that's holy you're not plotting some new intrigue! — Homer, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
SAPPHO
A thousand years before Shakespeare immortalized the Fair Young Lord and the Dark Lady, the “sweet-voiced” Sappho immortalized Anactoria.
The poem below has been variously titled “The Anactoria Poem,” “Helen’s Eidolon” and “Some People Say.”
Was Sappho the author of the world's first "make love, not war" poem, a mere 2,500 years ahead of her time?
Sappho, fragment 16: “But I Say…”
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Warriors on rearing chargers,
columns of infantry,
fleets of warships:
some call these the dark earth's redeeming visions.
But I say—
the one I desire.
Nor am I unique,
since she who surpassed all mortals in beauty
—Helen—
seduced by Aphrodite, led astray by desire,
departed for distant Troy,
abandoned her celebrated husband,
turned her back on her parents and child!
Her story reminds me of Anactoria,
who has also departed,
and whose lively dancing and lovely face
I would rather see than all the horsemen and war-chariots of the Lydians,
or their columns of infantry parading in flashing armor.
I couldn’t choose between the poem above and the two below, so I’m declaring a three-way tie! The next poem is probably Sappho’s best-known and most-translated. Its translators and interpreters include Catullus, John Keats, Robert Lowell, Lucretius, Ambrose Philips, Plautus, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Sir Philip Sidney, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Alfred Tennyson (in “Fatima”), Theocritus, William Carlos Williams, and yours truly.
Sappho, fragment 31: “Ode to Anactoria”
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
How can I compete with that damned man
who fancies himself one of the gods,
impressing you with his "eloquence" ...
when the thought of sitting in your radiant presence,
of hearing your lovely voice and lively laughter,
sets my heart hammering at my breast?
Hell, when I catch just a quick glimpse of you,
I'm left speechless, tongue-tied,
and immediately a blush like a delicate flame reddens my skin.
Then my vision dims with tears,
my ears ring,
I sweat profusely,
and every muscle in my body trembles.
When the blood finally settles,
I grow paler than summer grass,
till in my exhausted madness,
I'm as limp as the dead.
And yet I must risk all, being bereft without you ...
"Hymn to Aphrodite" is the only Sappho poem to survive in its entirety. It survived intact because it was quoted in full by Dionysus, a Roman orator, in his On Literary Composition, published around 30 BC.
Hymn to Aphrodite
by Sappho
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Immortal Aphrodite, throned in splendor!
Wile-weaving daughter of Zeus, enchantress and beguiler!
I implore you, dread mistress, discipline me no longer
with such vigor!
But come to me once again in kindness,
heeding my prayers, as you did so graciously before;
O, come Divine One, descend once more
from heaven's golden dominions!
Then with your chariot yoked to love's
white consecrated doves,
their multitudinous pinions aflutter,
you came gliding from heaven's shining heights,
to this dark gutter.
Swiftly they came and vanished, leaving you,
O my Goddess, smiling, your face eternally beautiful,
asking me what unfathomable longing compelled me
to cry out.
Asking me what I sought in my bewildered desire.
Asking, "Who has harmed you, why are you so alarmed,
my poor Sappho? Whom should Persuasion
summon here?"
"Although today she flees love, soon she will pursue you;
spurning love's gifts, soon she shall give them;
tomorrow she will woo you,
however unwillingly!"
Come to me now, O most Holy Aphrodite!
Free me now from my heavy heartache and anguish!
Graciously grant me all I request!
Be once again my ally and protector!
ERINNA
Erinna is widely considered second only to Sappho among the ancient Greek female poets. Little is known about her life; Erinna has been called a contemporary of Sappho and her most gifted student, but she may have lived up to a few hundred years later. I consider Erinna’s “Distaff” a masterpiece.
Excerpts from "Distaff"
by Erinna
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
… the moon rising …
… leaves falling …
… waves lapping a windswept shore …
… and our childish games, Baucis, do you remember? …
… Leaping from white horses into the deeper waves,
running on reckless feet through the great courtyard.
"You're it!' I cried, ‘You're the Tortoise now!"
But when your turn came to pursue your pursuers,
you darted beyond the courtyard,
dashed out deep into the waves,
splashing far beyond us …
… My poor Baucis, these tears I now weep are your warm memorial,
these traces of embers still smoldering in my heart
for our silly amusements, now that you lie ash …
… Do you remember how, as girls,
we played at weddings with our dolls,
pretending to be brides in our innocent beds? …
… How sometimes I was your mother,
allotting wool to the weaver-women,
calling for you to unreel the thread? …
… Do you remember our terror of the monster Mormo
with her huge ears, her forever-flapping tongue,
her four slithering feet, her shape-shifting face? …
… Until you mother called for us to help with the salted meat …
… But when you mounted your husband's bed,
dearest Baucis, you forgot your mothers' warnings!
Aphrodite made your heart forgetful …
… Desire becomes oblivion …
… Now I lament your loss, my dearest friend.
I can't bear to think of that dark crypt.
I can't bring myself to leave the house.
I refuse to profane your corpse with my tearless eyes.
I refuse to cut my hair, but how can I mourn with my hair unbound?
I blush with shame at the thought of you! …
… But in this dark house, O my dearest Baucis,
My deep grief is ripping me apart.
Wretched Erinna! Only nineteen,
I moan like an ancient crone, eying this strange distaff …
O Hymen! … O Hymenaeus! …
Alas, my poor Baucis!
VIRGIL
The following translation is the speech of the Sibyl to Aeneas, after he has implored her to help him find his beloved father in the Afterlife, found in the sixth book of the Aeneid…
"The Descent into the Underworld"
by Virgil
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Martin Mc Carthy, who put me up to it
The Sibyl began to speak:
"God-blooded Trojan, son of Anchises,
descending into the Underworld's easy
since Death's dark door stands eternally unbarred.
But to retrace one's steps and return to the surface:
that's the conundrum, that's the catch!
Godsons have done it, the chosen few
whom welcoming Jupiter favored
and whose virtue merited heaven.
However, even the Blessed find headway's hard:
immense woods barricade boggy bottomland
where the Cocytus glides with its dark coils.
But if you insist on ferrying the Styx twice
and twice traversing Tartarus,
if Love demands you indulge in such madness,
listen closely to how you must proceed…"
CATULLUS
Catullus (c. 87–54 BC) was a Latin poet of the late Roman republic who influenced Ovid and Virgil, among others. Many of his love poems were written for a woman with the pseudonym "Lesbia." It is believed that Lesbia was Clodia Metellus, the wife of the proconsul Metellus.
Catullus CI aka Carmina 101: "His Brother's Burial"
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Through many lands and over many seas
I have journeyed, brother, to these wretched rites,
to this final acclamation of the dead …
and to speak — however ineffectually — to your voiceless ashes
now that Fate has wrested you away from me.
Alas, my dear brother, wrenched from my arms so cruelly,
accept these last offerings, these small tributes
blessed by our fathers' traditions, these small gifts for the dead.
Please accept, by custom, these tokens drenched with a brother's tears,
and, for all eternity, brother, "Hail and Farewell."
Catullus II aka Carmina 2: "Lesbia's Sparrow"
Catullus V aka Carmina 5: "Let us live, Lesbia, let us love"
Catullus VII aka Carmina 7: "How Many Kisses"
The translations above, and more, can be read here: Catullus
DANTE
Dante (c. 1265-1321) was a major Italian poet who chose to write his Divine Comedy in vernacular Italian rather than elitist Latin.
Excerpts from The Divine Comedy:
Midway through my life's journey
I awoke to find myself lost in a trackless wood,
for I had strayed far from the straight path.
—Dante, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
INSCRIPTION ON THE GATE OF HELL
Before me nothing created existed, to fear.
Eternal I am, and eternal I endure.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
—Dante, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Paradiso, Canto III:1-33, The Revelation of Love and Truth by Dante Alighieri
Paradiso "O Virgin Mother" by Dante Alighieri
Sonnet: "Love's Faithful Ones" from LA VITA NUOVA by Dante Alighieri
Sonnet: "Love's Thoroughfare" from LA VITA NUOVA by Dante Alighieri
Sonnet: "Ladies of Modest Countenance" from LA VITA NUOVA by Dante Alighieri
The Dante translations above, and more, can be read here: Dante
BASHO
Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) was an ancient Japanese master of brief, startlingly clear and concise haiku/hokku and haikai no renga ("comic linked verse") also known as renku. Bashō influenced many Western poets, including early English/American modernists like Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of Modernist poetry has been a turn away from highly ornate language toward the clarity and conciseness of Oriental poetry forms such as haiku and tanka.
Lightning
shatters the darkness―
the night heron's shriek
―Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow low
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Come, investigate loneliness:
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Whistle on, twilight whippoorwill,
solemn evangelist
of loneliness
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray autumn's gay,
contemptuous of frost
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The butterfly
perfuming its wings
fans the orchid
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
See: whose surviving sons
visit the ancestral graves
white-bearded, with trembling canes?
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
More Basho translations can be read here: Matsuo Basho
GOETHE
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is widely considered to be one of the world's greatest poets and writers.
Excerpt from "To the Moon"
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Scattered, pole to starry pole,
glide Cynthia's mild beams,
whispering to the receptive soul
whatever moonbeams mean.
Bathing valley, hill and dale
with her softening light,
loosening from earth's frigid chains
my restless heart tonight!
Over the landscape, near and far,
broods darkly glowering night;
yet welcoming as Friendship's eye,
she, soft!, bequeaths her light.
Touched in turn by joy and pain,
my startled heart responds,
then floats, as Whimsy paints each scene,
to soar with her, beyond…
I mean Whimsy in the sense of both the Romantic Imagination and caprice. Here, I have the idea of Peter Pan flying off with Tinker Bell to Neverland. My translation was informed by a translation by John S. Dwight.
Prometheus by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nähe des Geliebten ("Near His Beloved") by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Gefunden ("Found") by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wandrers Nachtlied ("Wanderer's Night Song") by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Excerpt from "Hassan Aga" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Goethe translations above, and more, can be read here: German Poets
TAGORE
Rabindranath Tagore was a major Indian poet who wrote poems in Bengali.
Come As You Are
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Come as you are, forget appearances!
Is your hair untamable, your part uneven, your bodice unfastened? Never mind.
Come as you are, forget appearances!
Skip with quicksilver steps across the grass.
If your feet glisten with dew, if your anklets slip, if your beaded necklace slides off? Never mind.
Skip with quicksilver steps across the grass.
Do you see the clouds enveloping the sky?
Flocks of cranes erupt from the riverbank, fitful gusts ruffle the fields, anxious cattle tremble in their stalls.
Do you see the clouds enveloping the sky?
You loiter in vain over your toilet lamp; it flickers and dies in the wind.
Who will care that your eyelids have not been painted with lamp-black, when your pupils are darker than thunderstorms?
You loiter in vain over your toilet lamp; it flickers and dies in the wind.
Come as you are, forget appearances!
If the wreath lies unwoven, who cares? If the bracelet is unfastened, let it fall. The sky grows dark; it is late.
Come as you are, forget appearances!
Only Let Me Love You
by Michael R. Burch
after Rabindranath Tagore
Only let me love you, and the pain
of living will be easier to bear.
Only let me love you. Nay, refrain
from pinning up your hair!
Only let me love you. Stay, remain.
A face so lovely never needs repair!
Only let me love you to the strains
of Rabindranath on a soft sitar.
Only let me love you, while the rain
makes music: gentle, eloquent, sincere.
Only let me love you. Don't complain
you need more time to make yourself more fair!
Only let me love you. Stay, remain.
No need for rouge or lipstick! Only share
your tender body swiftly …
Unfit Gifts by Rabindranath Tagore
This Dog by Rabindranath Tagore
I Cannot Remember My Mother by Rabindranath Tagore
Patience by Rabindranath Tagore
Gitanjali 35: "Where the mind is without fear" by Rabindranath Tagore
The Tagore translations above, and more, can be read here: Rabindranath Tagore
NERUDA
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was a Chilean poet, politician and diplomat who wrote poems in Spanish. He won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Love Sonnet XI
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
I stalk the streets, silent and starving.
Bread does not satisfy me; dawn does not divert me
from my relentless pursuit of your fluid spoor.
I long for your liquid laughter,
for your sunburned hands like savage harvests.
I lust for your fingernails' pale marbles.
I want to devour your breasts like almonds, whole.
I want to ingest the sunbeams singed by your beauty,
to eat the aquiline nose from your aloof face,
to lick your eyelashes' flickering shade.
I pursue you, snuffing the shadows,
seeking your heart's scorching heat
like a puma prowling the heights of Quitratue.
Love Sonnet LXVI: I love you only because I love you by Pablo Neruda
Love Sonnet XVII: I do not love you like coral or topaz by Pablo Neruda
If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda
Sonnet XLV: Don't wander far away by Pablo Neruda
My Dog Died by Pablo Neruda
Tonight I will write the saddest lines by Pablo Neruda
The Neruda translations above, and more, can be read here: Pablo Neruda
RILKE
Rainer Maria Rilke was a major German poet who also wrote poems in French.
Archaischer Torso Apollos ("Archaic Torso of Apollo")
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within, while his composed will
emanates dynamism. Otherwise
the firmly muscled abdomen could not beguile us,
nor the centering loins make us smile
at the thought of their generative animus.
Otherwise the stone might seem deficient,
unworthy of the broad shoulders, of the groin
projecting procreation's triangular spearhead upwards,
unworthy of the living impulse blazing wildly within
like an inchoate star—demanding our belief.
You must change your life.
Herbsttag ("Autumn Day")
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Lord, it is time. Let the immense summer go.
Lay your long shadows over the sundials
and over the meadows, let the free winds blow.
Command the late fruits to fatten and shine;
O, grant them another Mediterranean hour!
Urge them to completion, and with power
convey final sweetness to the heavy wine.
Who has no house now, never will build one.
Who's alone now, shall continue alone;
he'll wake, read, write long letters to friends,
and pace the tree-lined pathways up and down,
restlessly, as autumn leaves drift and descend.
Der Panther ("The Panther")
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand bars. Nothing beyond.
Lithe, swinging with a rhythmic easy stride,
he circles, his small orbit tightening,
an electron losing power. Paralyzed,
soon regal Will stands stunned, an abject thing.
Only at times the pupils' curtains rise
silently, and then an image enters,
descends through arrested shoulders, plunges, centers
somewhere within his empty heart, and dies.
Komm, Du ("Come, You") by Rainer Maria Rilke
Du im Voraus ("You who never arrived") by Rainer Maria Rilke
First Duino Elegy by Ranier Maria Rilke
Second Duino Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke
The Rilke translations above, and more, can be read here: Rainer Maria Rilke
LI BAI
Li Bai (701-762) was a romantic figure who has been called the Lord Byron of Chinese poetry. He and his friend Du Fu (712-770) were the leading poets of the Tang Dynasty era, which has been called the "Golden Age of Chinese poetry." Li Bai is also known as Li Po, Li Pai, Li T'ai-po, and Li T'ai-pai.
Quiet Night Thoughts
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Moonlight illuminates my bed
as frost brightens the ground.
Lifting my eyes, the moon allures.
Lowering my eyes, I long for home.
My interpretation of this famous poem is a bit different from the norm. The moon symbolizes love, so I imagine the moon shining on Li Bai's bed to be suggestive, an invitation. A man might lower his eyes to avoid seeing something his wife would not approve of.
The Solitude of Night
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
At the wine party
I lay comatose, knowing nothing.
Windblown flowers fell, perfuming my lap.
When I arose, still drunk,
The birds had all flown to their nests.
All that remained were my fellow inebriates.
I left to walk along the river—alone with the moonlight.
Lines from Laolao Ting Pavilion
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The spring breeze knows partings are bitter;
The willow twig knows it will never be green again.
A Toast to Uncle Yun
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Water reforms, though we slice it with our swords;
Sorrow returns, though we drown it with our wine.
Translations of many great Chinese poets, including La Bai, Du Fu and Tzu Yeh, can be read here: Chinese Poets
LORCA
Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright and theater director. He was assassinated by Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and his body was never found.
Canción del jinete ("The Horseman's Song" or "Song of the Rider")
by Federico Garcia Lorca
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Cordoba. Distant and lone.
Black pony, big moon,
olives in my saddlebag.
Although my pony knows the way,
I never will reach Cordoba.
High plains, high winds.
Black pony, blood moon.
Death awaits me, watching
from the towers of Cordoba.
Such a long, long way!
Oh my brave pony!
Death awaits me
before I arrive in Cordoba!
Cordoba. Distant and lone.
Arbolé, arbolé ("Tree, Tree") by Federico Garcia Lorca
Despedida ("Farewell") by Federico Garcia Lorca
Gacela of the Dark Death by Federico Garcia Lorca
The Lorca translations above, and more, can be read here: Federico Garcia Lorca
RUMI
Rumi (1207-1273) was a Persian poet who wrote poems in Farsi, Turkish, Arabic and Greek.
I choose to love you in silence
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
I choose to love you in silence
where there is no rejection;
to possess you in loneliness
where you are mine alone;
to adore you from a distance
which diminishes pain;
to kiss you in the wind
stealthier than my lips;
to embrace you in my dreams
where you are limitless …
More Rumi translations can be read here: Rumi
Translations of the poets below can be read here: More Poetry Translations
Kajal Ahmad
Anna Akhmatova
Amergin
Antipater of Sidon
Ghani Baba
Charles Baudelaire
The Venerable Bede
Yahya Kemal Beyatli
Bertolt Brecht
Robert Burns
Buson
Caedmon
Paul Celan
Charles d’Orleans
Chaucer
Fukuda Chiyo-ni
Mahmoud Darwish
William Dunbar
Jaun Elia
Enheduanna
Mehmet Akif Ersoy
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Ahman Faraz
Veronica Franco
Du Fu
Mirza Ghalib
Khalil Gibran
Gulzar
Hafez
Heinrich Heine
Hermann Hesse
Nazim Hikmet
Sui Hui
Ibykos
Attila Ilhan
Rahat Indori
Issa
Walid Khazindar
Amir Khusrow
Layamon
Leonardo da Vinci
Primo Levi
Stéphane Mallarme
Martial
Michelangelo
Adam Mickiewicz
Nossis
Ono no Komachi
Ovid
Vera Pavlova
Petrarch
Plato
Pindar
Pushkin
Li Qingzhao
Miklos Radnoti
W.S. Rendra
Rimbaud
Taras Shevchenko
Masaoki Shiki
Sulpicia
Majrooh Sultanpuri
Georg Trakl
Marina Tsvetaeva
Fadwa Tuqan
Ko Un
Valery
Verlaine
Renee Vivien
Voltaire
Wang Wei
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Tzu Yeh
and many more!
Translations of the poets above can be read here: More Poetry Translations