Alice Oswald is a poet who turns to sound when thinking about poetry. A sort of exception to this emphasis can be found in Weeds and Wild Flowers, a book of plant poetry which is a collaboration with Jessica Greenman.
The poet Jane Hirshfield sketches two main motivational forces behind the desire to translate: the erotic longing for knowledge and the therapeutic desire either to cure oneself and one’s style of writing or to change literary and linguistic practices.
Her thoughts on translation aren’t emphasising a preferred formal element or a sensual capacity. Instead, she moves with ease between references to or metaphors of sound, light, taste, texture, feelings and ideas.
