Cavanagh -- I loved the reference to Bishop's poetry! I took an class on Bishop and Plath and spent considerable time with "One Art". Cavanagh connects this well to the impossibility of translating poetry, and how we can stand to be more forgiving in some respects. I agree that being literal does not always equal being faithful, especially since poetry often relies on melody and tone. This was reiterated in the article on Szymborska, when the initial "word for word" translation caused the poem to lose its integrity. In order to adequately convey that, certain syntactical liberties may benefit the translation. I though the ending of the paper was clever, and emphasized how we must be prepared as translators to encounter stubborn texts. It is essential to persist despite the imperfections in our translations, because it is more important that the work be shared across languages, rather than remain perfectly in its original state. Translating Szymborska changed both of the translators lives, and the impact that her poetry has had is because it, like many other significant works, creates unity throughout cultures. The article on gender provided a distinct categorization of how sexual metaphors are used in translation. Personally, likely due to limited experience, I hadn't thought of the relationship between original and translation (etc.) as something gendered. They seemed rather neutral to me, but I can understand the evolution of each viewpoint when contextualized. I enjoyed the references to Greek mythology in the end, but I wonder if in this "3rd age" either side can truly be non-sexual or genderless. It is the same idea that purposefully avoiding a concept can draw more attention to it, or that even within the categorizations of 2 women, one still takes on a more masculine role. The article to me was quite well researched, and well written.
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