A translation is no translation, ’ he said, ‘unless it will give you the music of a poem along with the words of it.

John Millington Synge
About This Quote

The idea of ‘a translation is no translation unless it will give you the music of a poem along with the words of it’ explains how to translate a poem. Translation has been around for centuries, but it’s not until recently that we’ve been able to read poems from other languages and understand them from their written version. The idea of hearing a song or poem in its original language for one to feel its true meaning so deeply without being able to read it is a special gift.

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