Translation as Appropriation in the Work of Paul Muldoon

A translated poem is always a new original. If its rewriting of the thought-content, imagery, emotions and formal structure of its model differs considerably from what a literal translation might yield—as may be the case when the translator happens to be a poet with a marked aesthetic or thematic agenda—it may even be called an appropriation. It is my contention that this phenomenon is particularly noticeable in the work of Paul Muldoon. In this article I discuss Muldoon’s practice as a translator and his use of translations in his original collections, in particular the way translations affect and are affected by their new context, while also relating his habits as a translator to his theoretical discussions of the nature of translation.