This does not mean— as many transla

This does not mean— as many translation enthusiasts and even many translators believe— that the object of a translation is to create an original poem in English. (This is easily refuted by the evidence. The great translations of the century— say, Pound's “Seafarer" or Confucian Odes, Blackburn's Provencal or his Cid, Rexroth's Li Ch'ing-ch'ao— to name only a few among the dead— would all be ludicrous if they'd been presented as original poems by Americans of the 20th century, even as poems written in the voice of a persona.)