Irish Poetry and Some Translations, a Personal Approach

Authors

  • Heleno Godoy Universidade Federal de Goiás

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/sh5vr809

Keywords:

Irish poetry, Translation, Portuguese

Abstract

This article explores the process of translating to Portuguese modern Irish poetry across nearly thirty years, stemming from the lifelong experience as a poet and informed by a personal approach to the role of poetry and the practice of translation. Its motto is the need to remember the past, or the claim not to forget in order to avoid the repetition of bad and undesired things. Thus the selected poems by Paul Durcan, Desmond Egan, Eavan Boland, John Montague, and Seamus Heaney address sensitive and resonant subjects such as Gaelicness and Englishness, Catholicism and Protestantism, freedom and oppression, colonialism and independence, post-colonialism, emigration, identity, and representation.

Author Biography

  • Heleno Godoy, Universidade Federal de Goiás

    Is a retired full professor of English Literature of the Faculty of Letters at Federal University of Goiás-UFG (19912015), Master Arts in Modern Letters from the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, PhD in Linguistic and Literary Studies in English from University of São Paulo-SP. He was also Associate Professor of Literary Theory at the Department of Letters at Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás (1976-2008). He debuted as a poet with Os veículos (1968), then publishing his only novel, As lesmas (1969). In addition to books of his own essays and others he organized, he has books of short stories: Relações, 1981; O amante de Londres, 1996; A feia da tarde e outros contos, 1999. His other books of poetry are: fábula fingida; 1985, A casa; 1992, Trimeros – livro de odes, 1993; A ordem da inscrição, 2004; Lugar comum e outros poemas, 2007; and Inventário – poesia reunida, inéditos e dispersos (1963-2015) [Goiânia, martelo, 2015 (660p.)]. His most recent publications are: Ensaios sobre teatro, which he organized with his graduate students, in 2016, and Ficção, história, imaginário: literatura de fronteiras (North Charleston: Amazon Digital Services Inc./KDP, 2017, he is one of the three organizers), Nossos lugares e o que neles somos [Poemas, 20172019] (Goiânia: Prime, 2019). The also organized Poemas do GEN – 60 Anos (Anápolis-GO: Editora Chafariz, 2024). He has long been dedicated to translating Irish writers, such as poets Michael Hartnett, Eavan Boland, Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan, James Simmons, Brendan Kennelly, Peter Fallon, Sara Berkley and others, and short story writers, such as Brian MacMahon, Mary Levin, Sean O’Faolain, Neil Jordan and Flann O’Brien.

References

Boland, Eavan, “Mise Éire” in Collected Poems. Manchester, England: Carcanet Press, 1995, p.102-03.

Durcan, Paul, “Ireland1972” in The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry, edited by Peter Fallon and Derek Mahon. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1990, p.268.

Egan, Desmond, “The Northern Ireland Question” in Selected Poems. Selected and with an Introduction by Hugh Kenner. Omaha, Nebraska, USA: Creighton University Press, 1992, p.32.

Heaney, Seamus, “Exposure” in Selected Poems 1965-1975. London, England: Faber and Faber, 1980, p.135-36.

Heaney, Seamus, “Digging” in Selected Poems 1965-1975. London, England: Faber and Faber, 1980, p.10-11.

Montague, John, “A Grafted Tongue” in The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry, edited by Peter Fallon and Derek Mahon. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1990, p.46-7.

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Published

03-12-2025

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 1 (2025): ABEI Journal 27.1 – Special Issue 50 Years of Diplomatic Relations Between Brazil and Ireland

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Heleno Godoy

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Godoy, H. (2025). Irish Poetry and Some Translations, a Personal Approach. ABEI Journal, 27(1), 149-162. https://doi.org/10.11606/sh5vr809