Following the map-maker: translating Elizabeth Bishop’s poems into Basque
This article explains the main issues involved in translating a collection of poems by Canadian-American poet Elizabeth Bishop from English into Basque, as well as the decisions made to address those issues. The problems are divided into four categories: lexical issues, issues related to rhyme and wordplay, issues related to rhythm and structure, and issues related to understanding and interpretation. The aim was to present possible options and solutions for these diverse difficulties and, finally, to draw some humble conclusions about what translating poetry entails.
