During the late 1960s, Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges gave a series of Harvard Lectures about the subject of poetry.

Recordings of the lectures surfaced in the 1990s. They were then transcribed, annotated, and published in 2000 under the title “This Craft of Verse” by Harvard University Press.

In his lecture “Word Music and Translation”, Borges argued that the translation of verse should be seen as a collaboration between two poets. As such, a translator should seek to equal or, if possible, surpass the original. He then provides a list of examples which he analyzes in depth.

He cites Lord Tennyson’s versification of “The Ode of Brunanburh” from “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”. He describes Tennyson as the first poet to attempt to replicate the Anglo-Saxon strong stress meter in modern English. He also describes the result as a masterpiece and as having passages that are better poetry than the original.

Then, Borges cites the English translations of Saint John of the Cross by Catholic poet Roy Campbell. Borges calls Campbell “a great Scottish poet who is also a South African.” He called Campbell’s effort “not only a blameless but also a fine translation.” He then analyzes Cambpell’s translation of “Noche Oscura de Alma”. 

In concluding his analysis of Campbell, Borges laments that verse translations are always “felt to be inferior –even though, verbally, the rendering may be as good as the text.” Coming from a man who could fluently read, write, and converse in both English and Spanish, this is very high praise  indeed.

Borges then praises many other examples, including Stefan George’s German translation of Baudelaire, Mathew Arnold’s essay on translating Homer, and Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”.

At the end of the lecture, Borges expresses a hope that in the future “men will care for beauty, not for the circumstances of beauty. Then we will have translations not only as good (we have them already) but as famous as Chapman’s Homer, as Urquhart’s Rabelais, as Pope’s Odyssey. I think this is a consummation devoutly to be wished.”