The rhythms of free verse and the rhythms of translation

This article examines the affinities between free verse and the act of translation, particularly as they entail rhythmic transformation. These affinities have much to do with translation's task of relocating the expressive energies of the source text, and with a shared vested interest in performance, that is, in the translation of the linguistic toward the paralinguistic. The latter preoccupation derives from the ways in which free verse and translation promote the self-constitution of the reader and thus necessitate rhythm's own search for experiential fullness. The argument is pursued through the creation and exploration of three brief translations from and into French (Lamartine, Thomas Kinsella, Apollinaire).