Recommended Books of Translated Poetry
Bookstall List
These are the hand-picked inexpensive books that I regularly sell, at keen prices, at my bookstall in the Crafts Fair at Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, London N6, and in many other places in London, Surrey, and Sussex. Most have English and foreign facing texts.
Please browse! I can sell you my own works, if you ask. But NB I do not sell other books through this website. You may like to order from your bookshop, or from Amazon, or Inpress, or direct from the publishers. Amazon’s prices of new and used books may vary.
The leading publisher in this field is Arc Publications. I always stock an assortment of Arc books. They have too many titles to list here: please see the Arc website. The Inpress website has a big display. See also Anvil, Bloodaxe, Carcanet, Shearsman.
French
Victor Hugo, How to be a Grandfather, 2012, tr T Adès, Hearing Eye
Victor Hugo, The Distance, the Shadows, tr H Guest, Carcanet
Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil, tr , Alma Books
Verlaine, Selected Poems, tr M Sorrell, Oxford
Rimbaud, Complete Poems, tr M Sorrell, Oxford
Mallarmé, Poems, tr Blackmore, Oxford
Valéry, Charms & other pieces, tr P Dale, Anvil
Desnos, Surrealist, Lover, Resistant, tr T Adès, Arc
Supervielle, Homesick for the Earth, tr M Alvi, Bloodaxe
Carême, Defying Fate, tr C Pilling, Arc
Cassou, 33 Sonnets & other poems, tr T Adès, Arc
Cassou, The Madness of Amadis, tr T Adès, Agenda Editions
Rouzeau, Cold Spring in Winter, tr S Wicks, Arc
Arab/African Poets, The Parley–Tree, tr P Williamson, Arc
Spanish
Cantes Flamencos, tr M Smith, Shearsman
Lorca, Selected Poems, tr M Williams, Bloodaxe
Neruda, The Captain’s Verses, tr B Cole, Carcanet
Neruda, Love Poems from Il Postino, tr S Tapscott, Harvill
Kofman, The Flights of Zarza, tr I Taylor, Arc
Tolaretxipi, Still Life with Loops, tr P Jenkins, Arc
Russian
Mayakovsky, Pro Eto — That’s What, tr G Hyde, Arc
Tsvetaeva, Bride of Ice, tr E Feinstein, Carcanet
O Mandelstam, Moscow & Voronezh, tr McKane, Bloodaxe
Shcherbina, Life Without, tr S Dugdale, Bloodaxe
Shvarts, Birdsong on the Seabed, tr S Dugdale, Bloodaxe
Italian
Italian Landscape Poems, tr A Elliot, Bloodaxe
Foscolo, Sepulchres, tr J Nichols, Oneworld
Belli, Sonnets, tr M Stocks, Alma Books
Quasimodo, The Night Fountain, tr M Sonzogni, Arc
German
Rilke, Pure Contradiction, tr I Crockatt, Arc
Rilke, Duino Elegies, tr M Crucefix, Enitharmon
Lange, The Fishermen Sleep, tr J Williams, Arc
Greek
Cavafy, Collected Poems, tr E Sachperoglou, Oxford
Kondos, Absurd Athlete, tr D Connolly, Arc
Dutch
Campert, I Dreamed in the Cities… tr D Gardner, Arc
Duinker, The Sublime Song… tr W Groenewegen, Arc
East European
For children: Sheep Don’t Go to School: Bloodaxe
Polish
Norwid, Poems, tr D Borchardt, Archipelago
Szymborska, Here, tr C Cavanagh, HMH
Rozewicz, Recycling, tr Howard & Plebanek, Arc
Swedish
Tranströmer, Half–Finished Heaven, tr R Bly, Graywolf
Chinese
Du Fu, Spring in the Ruined City, tr J Waley, Shearsman
Tu Fu & Li Po, Poems, tr A Cooper, Penguin
Bei Dao, Unlock, tr E Weinberger, Anvil
Arabic
Ten Modern Arab Poets, tr D O’Grady, Dedalus
Barghouti, Midnight & other poems, tr R Ashur, Arc
Darwish, Adonis, al–Qasim, Victims of a Map, Saqi
Hebrew
Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, tr T. Carmi
Turkish
Matur, How Abraham Abandoned Me, tr R Christie, Arc
Persian
Rumi, Words of Paradise, tr R Abdulla, Frances Lincoln
Latin
Catullus, tr Guy Lee, Oxford
Additional List
These books are also recommended. For various reasons, they are not on my bookstall. Many are slightly too expensive.
Hugo, The Distance, the Shadows, tr H Guest, Anvil
Rimbaud, The Poems, tr O Bernard, 2012, Anvil
Corbière, Wry–Blue Loves, tr P Dale, Anvil
Verlaine, Men/Women, tr A Elliot, Bloodaxe
Halevi, Poems from the Divan, tr G Levin, Anvil
Vallejo, various volumes, tr Gianuzzi & Smith, Shearsman
Lorca, Gypsy Ballads, tr J Duran, Enitharmon
Lorca, The Tamarit Poems, tr M Smith, Shearsman
Borges, Selected Poems, many translators, Penguin USA
Rilke, The Book of Hours, tr McNeill & McCarthy, Agenda Editions
Rilke, Duino Elegies, tr M Crucefix, Enitharmon
Goethe, Selected Poems, tr D Luke, Libris
Brecht, War Primer, tr J Willett, Libris
Khodasevich, Poems, tr P Daniels, Angel Classics
Catullus, Poems of Love & Hate, tr J Balmer, Bloodaxe
Springing from Catullus, tr C Pilling, Flambard
Horace, Odes, tr C Sydenham, Duckworth
Martial, Epigrams, tr J Michie, Hart–Davis
Iqbal, Poems, tr V Kiernan, Oxford
Tagore, Song Offerings, tr J Winter, Anvil