I was very excited for two main reasons for this week’s reading. One is because I like poetry; it might be my favourite among the creative writing genres. I have always found how little words can say so much and found it an excellent form of explaining and illustrating life. The second one was that it is easier on the mind and eyes to read poetry because they are not sequential, and you can take breaks in between without losing the hang of where you are.
On that note, here are my thoughts on this week’s reading, Madwomen, by Gabriela Mistral. To begin with, I was expecting some feminist poetry writing just because of the irony o women writing about “crazy women”. But as poems are one of these very personal forms of expression, it feels uneducated to say what she meant or wanted to communicate. Instead, I’ll tell you what I felt and experienced reading this collection of poems.
I read the collection of poems directly in Spanish and then in English because I wanted to see how much a translation does justice to work as poetry, where every word is placed carefully and intentionally.
The most common thing I noticed throughout the comparison was that the English version was a lot clearer to me than the Spanish version on some occasions. It is because, in my opinion, English has more words that mean more things specifically, while in particular Spanish, works often are used for so many different things.
Regarding the sentiment and the content of the poems, I experienced a deep feeling of loss, yearning and even some sort of mourning. Having lost things, such as love, herself, people and things, is a recurring topic in the poems that give them a nostalgic, wounded aura.
The poems are written absolutely beautifully and brilliantly. I enjoyed eating them and connected really well with a lot of them. The ones that I remember and enjoyed the most were “The abandoned woman”, “The women unburdened”, and “The farm women”.
Each of the poems encapsulated a specific and deep feeling so well. None of them felt repetitive or similar; each was it is own.
I hope you enjoyed this book, just as I did. I was torn between choosing which book to read this week, but I did know some of Gbriel’s poems, so I was more inclined to try something new.
My question for you this week is as follows. Which one was your favourite poem and why?
See you Thursday.
DanielOrizaga
January 30, 2023 — 10:49 am
You have done a good reading exercise by comparing the poems in their original version and in the translation. What you mention about the lexical differences between the two languages is interesting. Being poetry, as you say, a concentration of meanings (more complex than prose=, do you think it is possible to clarify what Mistral wants to tell us with his poems, beyond the meaning of the individual words? I’m thinking about the rhythm, the sonority and the configuration of the metaphors.
chiko
January 30, 2023 — 3:15 pm
Hi ☺︎
I did not read Madwoman, so I learned the content from your blog post. Thank you!
It seems like Mistral’s poems are beautifully worded, somewhat mysterious, and the imagery is vivid.
I am very pleased to hear that you have read the poem in both Spanish and English; the translation appears to be well done. This week I read Twenty Love Poems and Songs of Despair. I cannot read Spanish, yet the translated version may seem more critical of women. Therefore, reading the original texts might solve the problem I have with the dominant portrayal of women and their bodies.
katherine
January 30, 2023 — 7:34 pm
“The Abandoned Woman” and “The Woman Unburdened” were among some of my favourites as well! I think they really capture the human response to sorrow. Of the two poems I highlighted on my blog post, I think “The Ballerina” was my overall favourite. I am not a dancer, but I found the intensely physical response and desire to shoo-away external problems to be deeply relatable.
gillian marshall
February 3, 2023 — 8:26 pm
My favourite poem was the Abandoned Woman, one of the first poems in the book. I’m not sure why it captivated me the way it did – maybe it was the descriptive language that portrayed heartbreak, loneliness, and then a sense of resurrection and strength within one’s self. Or maybe because the feeling of abandonment is one that many of us feel at one point or another in our lives, followed by a sense of resilience that this too shall pass.