10 days later - and the process of translation

There should not be any broken links on the image site now. I published a sketch even if the English is not available. Gradually - unless I get a brain wave on how to do it quickly - I will add links to each image that navigate to useful sites for that psalm, or that navigate to other psalms of the same class. First I will link the psalms to each other as they describe themselves - by type, by instrument, by attribution. Then perhaps I will have a try at organizing them by genre - but that will be a long discovery process.

Of this list below, four have a first cut at the prosodic structure: 19, 46, - translation by John Hobbins, 51 English, 51 French, and 68. Some specific additional work towards a 'literary' translation by me has been done on a very few: Psalm 51, and Psalm 1.

Now you can see that drafting the inner structure of the words is not by any means translation - but I think it is a vital first step. Why? Consider: there is a linear movement from beginning to end - for such is the nature of time, reading, and performance. This is a primal shared experience. In this observation, I am not alone, lost in a hopeless subjectivism. But!!! there is also a spirit of fullness, who, as we live, read, or perform, circles certain ideas by repetition: here a word, there a repeated word, here a line, there a line - and the circles formed by the repetitions surround a critical juncture pointing us more and more clearly, by a kind of divine pedagogy, to the antidote to linearity and the doors of the perfect. That is the first step. If a translation does not maintain the inner structure, I think it fails. That's a blunt criticism.

Then, but perhaps concurrently, one can apply the excellent general rule of John Hobbins - I say excellent since he clearly has a mode of attenuating the complexity of rhythm, sound, and shape that has real promise in confirming the inner structure with an external one. This is step 1 and 2. And still we have not translated - but hopefully we have some accurate observations that could be confirmed by another independent observer.

Then, having done our best to see the original poet's work, we can consider our purpose in translation. Perhaps we have a political or theological agenda, or we have a target age range or education level in mind. Whether it be colonial domination, or ecclesial power, or individual piety, or a personal dispute, or the play of the erotic, or the feel of short words, or a latinate length, or a dynamic equivalence, or literal or literary or whatever, only now are we in a clear enough state to apply our tastes and biases to the communication of the original poet's work on behalf of our contemporaries.

Here's a sample translation exercise - I wonder, could this palindrome be expressed in Hebrew or French. Not to express its sequenced self-reversal would fail to translate it. This won a prize at a wedding where I first wrote it on the back of a napkin.

God imaging,
they, made one of two:
Will and Christina,
each drawing each,
Christina and Will:
two of one made, they,
imaging God.

42 remaining to draft.

Psalm --1 August 2006 (67)
Psalm --2 August 2006 (108)
Psalm --3 September 2006 (70)
Psalm --4 October 2006 (77)
Psalm --5 October 2006 (111)
Psalm --6 November 2006 (84)
Psalm --7 November 2006 (142)
Psalm --8 September 2006 (77)
Psalm --9 November 2006 (165)
Psalm -10 November 2006 (162)
Psalm -11 November 2006 (68)
Psalm -12 November 2006 (79)
Psalm -13 January 2007 (55)
Psalm -14 / -53 January 2007 (93)
Psalm -15 January 2007 (55)
Psalm -16 January 2007 (97)
Psalm -17 February 2007 (124)
Psalm -18 May 2007 (397)
Psalm -19 January 2007 (126)
Psalm -20 May 2007 (70)
Psalm -21 May 2007 (104)
Psalm -22 April 2007 (253)
Psalm -23 September 2006 (52)
Psalm -24 May 2007 (89)
Psalm -25 May 2007 (159)
Psalm -26 June 2007 (85)
Psalm -27 July 2007 (149)
Psalm -28 September 2007 (96)
Psalm -29 June 2007 (91)
Psalm -30 September 2007 (97)
Psalm -31 (220)
Psalm -32 September 2007 (110)
Psalm -33 (161)
Psalm -34 September 2007 (165)
Psalm -35 (229)
Psalm -36 (100)
Psalm -37 September 2007 (298)
Psalm -38 (169)
Psalm -39 October 2007 (129)
Psalm -40 (185)
Psalm -41 (120)
Psalm -42 January 2007 (132)
Psalm -43 February 2007 (59)
Psalm -44 June 2007 (197)
Psalm -45 June 2007 (160)
Psalm -46 September 2006 (99)
Psalm -47 May 2007 (77)
Psalm -48 June 2007 (111)
Psalm -49 (168)
Psalm -50 (178)
Psalm -51 December 2006 (153)
Psalm -52 July 2007 (90)
Psalm -54 July 2007 (62)
Psalm -55 July 2007 (193)
Psalm -56 (120)
Psalm -57 (107)
Psalm -58 (102)
Psalm -59 October 2007 (159)
Psalm -60 (114)
Psalm -61 (68)
Psalm -62 (117)
Psalm -63 (93)
Psalm -64 (82)
Psalm -65 October 2007 (109)
Psalm -66 (155)
Psalm -67 December 2006 (53)
Psalm -68 September 2007 (310)
Psalm -69 October 2007 (291)
Psalm -70 October 2007 (47)
Psalm -71 (206)
Psalm -72 (163)
Psalm -73 December 2006 (193)
Psalm -74 (197)
Psalm -75 (89)
Psalm -76 (90)
Psalm -77 (156)
Psalm -78 (530)
Psalm -79 September 2007 (132)
Psalm -80 September 2007 (141)
Psalm -81 (125)
Psalm -82 October 2007 (61)
Psalm -83 (130)
Psalm -84 June 2007 (116)
Psalm -85 June 2007 (96)
Psalm -86 August 2007 (147)
Psalm -87 June 2007 (54)
Psalm -88 (142)
Psalm -89 December 2006 (384)
Psalm -90 May 2007 (140)
Psalm -91 May 2007 (112)
Psalm -92 May 2007 (112)
Psalm -93 October 2007 (45)
Psalm -94 (169)
Psalm -95 October 2007 (89)
Psalm -96 (112)
Psalm -97 (95)
Psalm -98 (75)
Psalm -99 October 2007 (83)
Psalm 100 December 2006 (44)
Psalm 101 (84)
Psalm 102 (213)
Psalm 103 August 2007 (167)
Psalm 104 (271)
Psalm 105 (296)
Psalm 106 (331)
Psalm 107 January 2007 (278)
Psalm 108 September 2007 (98)
Psalm 109 (227)
Psalm 110 September 2007 (65)
Psalm 111 September 2007 (74)
Psalm 112 September 2007 (79)
Psalm 113 September 2007 (60)
Psalm 114 September 2007 (52)
Psalm 115 May 2007 (135)
Psalm 116 August 2007 (131)
Psalm 117 March 2007 (17)
Psalm 118 March 2007 (198)
Psalm 119-A-H March 2007 (241)
Psalm 119-K-* July 2007 (305)
Psalm 119-Ts-T July 2007 (292)
Psalm 119-V-Y July 2007 (258)
Psalm 120 June 2007 (51)
Psalm 121 May 2007 (56)
Psalm 122 June 2007 (62)
Psalm 123 May 2007 (41)
Psalm 124 May 2007 (57)
Psalm 125 June 2007 (49)
Psalm 126 June 2007 (50)
Psalm 127 June 2007 (60)
Psalm 128 June 2007 (47)
Psalm 129 August 2007 (54)
Psalm 130 August 2007 (54)
Psalm 131 August 2007 (33)
Psalm 132 August 2007 (131)
Psalm 133 May 2007 (40)
Psalm 134 April 2007 (25)
Psalm 135 August 2007 (167)
Psalm 136 August 2007 (166)
Psalm 137 August 2007 (84)
Psalm 138 September 2006 (75)
Psalm 139 August 2007 (177)
Psalm 140 (118)
Psalm 141 (95)
Psalm 142 (75)
Psalm 143 (117)
Psalm 144 September 2007 (130)
Psalm 145 September 2006 (161)
Psalm 146 May 2007 (85)
Psalm 147 June 2007 (141)
Psalm 148 June 2007 (111)
Psalm 149 July 2007 (63)
Psalm 150 December 2006 (37)