Customer Reviews

Poems of St. John of the Cross

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Nims' translation is nothing short of miraculous. I've read the poems in at least three different translations and Nim's were the only ones which made me cry like when I read the Spanish for the first time. There is something plaintive and erotic about John of the Cross that other tranlators edit out for propriety's sake, but Nims left it in as one should. John was a lover of the Song of Songs and his pursuit of God was the pursuit of one painfully in love and desirous of consummation. Nims brings that aspect to the fore. Gorgeous. But remember, the poems are not enough. One must still read John's commentaries.

John of the Cross is often associated only with the spiritual condition he called the dark night of the soul, experienced as a cold, dry, confusing place. But when you read his poem "On a Dark Night", you realize what wonderful intimacies are hidden for lovers under cover of darkness. For me, this poem, both in its original Spanish and its rich English translation, is itself worth the price of this attractive hardback book.

This is a book that celebrates the soul's love for her Divine Lover in images and language that transcend the limitations of physical gender. When the mystics subliminated, they truly made the energy of loving sublime!

I have 5 translations of the poems of John of the Cross, and am working on making my own. This is the only translation which rivals the original in poetic quality, but it is very far removed from the original in phraseology and occasionally in overall meaning. It does not even deserve the name "translation"; it is more of a broad paraphrase. Robert Frost defined poetry as "what is lost in translation", and this tries to make up for that by creating poetry of its own. If you want good mystical Christian poetry, I heartily recommend this. If you can't read the 16th Spanish (which is included), and want to know what John of the Cross wrote, you will want to look elsewhere.

The poems of st John of the Cross are very moving and here they are both in the original Spanish and a fluent new translation - highly recommended!

The Poems of St. John of the Cross, translated by Ken Krabbenhoft, disappoints on two levels: the work itself and the translation.

More than half the work consists of paraphrases of or embellishments on the Scriptures: Cántico espiritual (Spiritual canticle)makes a hash of the Song of Solomon; En una noche oscura (On a dark night), also imitative of the Song of Solomon, is a bit more graceful but still falls short; Encima de las corrientes (By the rivers of Babylon) is a paraphrase of Psalm 137; En el principio moraba (In the beginning was the Word) is an enlargement upon the first verses of the Gospel of John, overlaid with a rather fanciful conversation between God the Father and God the Son, and a highly idealized interpretation of the Bride of Christ.

There are original poems but they are slight, abstracted and pedestrian. Not a single one has a well-turned phrase or mature insight.

It is difficult for me to say how much of the foregoing criticism should be attributed to the work of the translator, Ken Krabbenhoft. My Spanish is rudimentary and weak, but even I can tell that none of the musicality of the original comes through.

I cannot recommend this book to anyone wanting to deepen his relationship with God or to enlarge his understanding of spiritual matters. Even as a work of literature, the Bible is a far richer source than this slender volume. I'm returning it today.