Mira Revesz
on translating Elvira Sastre
Translating Sastre’s informal, vibrant language in the body of the poem was a delight; translating the dream description in the beginning was more difficult. The imperfect tense in Spanish evokes a timelessness that the imperfect in English doesn’t quite do. In my translation, I strove to preserve the juxtaposition of the unbounded time in the italics and the immediacy of the text in standard type.
about the author
Elvira Sastre, herself a translator, has been praised for bringing renewed life to the Spanish language and its poetry. “Hiberno” is from her second book of poetry, Baluarte, which was published when she was twenty-two. Among other dedications, she dedicates this work “to those who know that poetry is a path of thorns that ends in a rose.”
about the translator
Mira Revesz is a senior at Swarthmore College, pursuing a special honors major that combines English, education, and religion. After graduation, she will teach high school English literature and ESL, and looks forward to reading Lorca and Sastre with her students in both Spanish and English.
photo by a DoubleSpeak staffer
