Jacob Hershman
on translating Hannah Szenes
In the original Hebrew, there are twelve syllables in the first and third lines of each four-line stanza. These lines are not rhymed. The second and fourth lines contain nine syllables and are rhymed. The poem as a whole follows a tribrachic meter, meaning each line comprises an assortment of three short, unstressed syllables.
I was able to recreate the syllabic makeup of each stanza, as well as the rhyme scheme. To do this successfully, I had to make a few sacrifices. For instance, notwithstanding the primacy of syllabic triplets in במדורות מלחמה, I could not incorporate tribrachic meter into this translation. I found it impossible to both rhyme the second and fourth lines and translate into the original meter without totally transforming the diction. I ought to mention that, strictly speaking, there is no rhyme in the first and final stanzas, merely an assonance between “blood” and “someone.” Given, first, my ultimate objective of representing the essence of the original piece, second, the parameters of my translation and, third, the exact rhyme in the second stanza, I believe my readers will be able to infer that the original Hebrew bears a rhyme.
about the author
Like many European Jews in the early twentieth century, Hannah Szenes was captivated by the prospect of establishing a Jewish homeland. As a teenager in Budapest, she joined local Zionist youth movements, eventually emigrating to Palestine in 1939 at the age of seventeen. For two years she lived in an agricultural cooperative (in Hebrew, moshav) in Nahalal. It was here that she composed, among other works, “In the Pyre of War.” In 1941, she relocated to a kibbutz in Caesarea.
In 1943 Szenes joined a Zionist paramilitary organization called the Palmach as a volunteer. A year later, she joined the organization’s paratrooper unit, and, in 1944, was dropped into Yugoslavia to aid anti-Nazi forces. Only hours after entering Hungary, which was the central objective of the mission, Szenes and her compatriots were captured and imprisoned. Although Szenes was tortured for months, she never capitulated to her captors. In late November 1944, she was offered the choice to petition for clemency or face the firing squad. She did not want to beg for her life; she chose to die. Szenes faced her executioners without a blindfold. She was twenty-three.
about the translator
Jacob Hershman is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, studying English.
photo by Josh Glahn
