Customer Reviews

Leaf-Huts and Snow-Houses

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It might seem that translating poetry would be impossible, but Robin Fulton has succeeded in bringing the poems of Olav Hauge from the Norwegian to English, much to my delight. There is a strong voice in the translations, a voice that I assume is Hauge's although I credit Fulton, a poet himself, with making the translations into poems. I have learned many of the poems in this volume by heart, and often recite them for myself. Fulton's choice of words never jars or falls short. Hauge's love of the Chinese poets shines through in Fulton's economy of words. I highly recommend this volume for those wanting to explore Hauge's poetry, for both the quality and the quantity of its contents.

I am indebted to Robert Bly for introducing me to Hauge through his anthology "The Winged Energy of Delight." I have now also purchased "The Dream We Carry," a shorter collection of Hauge's poems translated by Bly and Robert Hedin. Those translations, presented along with the original Norwegian, might be of particular value to scholars, or might be more literal translations, but I did not find them to be inviting poetry. A few poems are included in both collections, including this short one that serves as an example of the different flavors offered by these translators. Choose the translator that fits you best.

New Tablecloth
[tr. Robert Hedin]

A new tablecloth, yellow!
And fresh white paper!
Words will have to arrive,
because the cloth is so fine
and the paper so delicate!
When ice forms on the fjord, we know
birds do come and land on it.


New Table-Cloth
[tr. Robin Fulton]

New yellow cloth on the table.
And clean white pages!
Here the words must come,
such a fine new cloth here
and such fine paper!
The ice settled on the fjord,
the birds came and alighted.