"This is a gorgeously presented book with equally stunning verse." —The Millions, "Must-Read Poetry of April 2021"

"In poems that remind the reader of John Donne's fierce, unbridled devotion, mingled with John Keats' romanticism, people 'suffer, grieve, and die' at the various altars of love . . . The collection invites the acceptance of mystery ushered by the intoxicating work of devotion." —Publishers Weekly

"I was so impressed by [The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz] . . . [A] revelatory new translation." —Commonweal Magazine

Praise for María Baranda and Paul Hoover

“One of the leading Mexican poets of the generation born in the 1960s and a powerful presence in all of Latin American poetry, Baranda is best known for her sweeping and incisive long poems. Her cry is resoundingly of sea, sponge, ant, and prayer, as related in rapture. Hoover deftly captures the drama of her cadences in Spanish.”—PEN.org

Praise for Black Dog, Black Night (coedited and cotranslated by Paul Hoover and Nguyen Do)

“A monumental contribution to international literature.”—Bloomsbury Review

“A fresh, groundbreaking compendium of contemporary Vietnamese poets.”—Poets.org

“A rich sampling. Reading this anthology will leave the reader wanting more contemporary Vietnamese poetry.”—Rain Taxi

Praise for Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology (edited by Paul Hoover)

“A resounding success. For a young writer wanting to get a complete flavor of what’s exciting about American poetry today, there can hardly be a better guide. . . . Hoover’s anthology looks to the future. This is an indispensable guide for every poet, opening many portals onto avant-garde poetry, an exhaustive resource that never becomes boring or pedestrian.”—Huffington Post

“The range here is stunning, from Olson’s panoramic histories to Frank O’Hara’s chatty cityscapes to Lyn Hejinian’s bottomless autobiography. . . . This will be an essential book for students and serious fans of poetry.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Invaluable . . . Hoover’s expert introduction tracks all the stages and facets of postmodern poetry, including such modes as conceptual poetry, cyberpoetry, and proceduralism. . . . The well-chosen selections range exhilaratingly. . . . Each approach, mechanical or intuitive, yields poems of provocation, mystery, wit, even beauty, adding up to an engrossing and defining collection.”—Booklist

Praise for Paul Hoover’s Poems in Spanish

“Hoover use[s] the music and directness of Spanish poetry in translation to make poems in English that sound at once otherworldly and completely, poignantly American.”—Boston Review

Autorentext

María Baranda is a winner of major literary awards in Mexico, the Aguascalientes National Poetry Prize and the Efrain Huerta National Poetry Prize, as well as Spain's Francisco de Quevedo Prize for Ibero-American Poetry. Her collections of poems include Narrar, Atlántica y el rústico, Avido mundo, Ficticia and El mar insuficiente: poemas 1989-2009 (translated into English by Joshua Edwards), and Yegua nocturna corriendo en un prado de luz absoluta (translated into English by Paul Hoover).

Paul Hoover is the author of collections of poems including The Book of Unnamed Things, Desolation: Souvenir, Sonnet 56, Edge and Fold, and Poems in Spanish, which was nominated for a Bay Area Book Award. He is editor of Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology and coeditor of the literary magazine New American Writing. He teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University.

Klappentext

From celebrated contemporary poets María Baranda and Paul Hoover, an exciting collaborative translation of the canonical poems of San Juan de la Cruz.

Leseprobe
Noche Oscura

Canciones del alma que se goza de haber llegado al alto estado de perfección, que es la unión con Dios, por el camino de la negación espiritual

En una noche oscura,
con ansias en amores inflamada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!,
salí sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada.

A escuras, y segura,
por la secreta escala disfrazada,
¡oh, dichosa ventura!,
a escuras, y en celada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada.

En la noche dichosa,
en secreto, que nadie me veía,
ni yo miraba cosa,
sin otra luz y guía,
sino la que en el corazón ardía.

Aquesta me guiaba
más cierto que la luz del mediodía,
a donde me esperaba,
quien yo bien me sabía,
en parte donde nadie parecía.

¡Oh noche, que guiaste!,
¡oh noche amable más que el alborada!,
¡oh noche, que juntaste
Amado con amada,
amada en el Amado transformada!

En mi pecho florido,
que entero para él solo se guardaba,
allí quedó dormido,
y yo le regalaba,
y el ventalle de cedros aire daba.

El aire de la almena,
cuando yo sus cabellos esparcía,
con su mano serena
en mi cuello hería,
y todos mis sentidos suspendía.

Quedéme, y olvidéme,
el rostro recliné sobre el Amado;
cesó todo, y dejéme,
dejando mi cuidado,
entre las azucenas olvidado.

Dark Night

Songs of the Soul in Its Pleasure at Having Reached the High State of Perfection, Which Is the Union with God, on the Path of Spiritual Denial

On a dark night,
anxious, by love inflamed,
oh, what good fortune!,
I left without being noticed,
my house already at rest.

In the dark, and secure,
disguised by a secret ladder,
oh, what good fortune!,
dark and hidden,
my house already at rest.

In the blissful night,
in secret, where no one could see me,
nor could I see a thing,
with neither light nor guide,
except the one who burned in my heart.

That is what guided me
more truly than the light of noon,
where he awaited me,
the one who knew me well,
where there seemed to be no one.

Oh night, you guide me!,
oh night kinder than the dawn!,
oh night that joined
Beloved with beloved,
beloved in the Beloved transformed!

On my flowering breast,
reserved only for him,
there he fell asleep
and I gave him the gift,
and the breeze of the cedars blew.

When I ruffled his hair,
with its serene hand
the air of the battlement
wounded my neck
and all my senses were suspended.

I remained me and forgot me,
I lowered my face to the Beloved;
everything ceased and I left myself,
leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Inhalt

Contents

San Juan de la Cruz

The Life
The Poetry
Translator's Note

Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz

Noche oscura * Dark Night
Cantico spiritual (Redacción del manuscrito de Sanlúcar) * Spiritual Canticle (Redaction of the manuscript of Sanlúcar)
Cantico spiritual (Redacción del manuscrito de Jaén) * Spiritual Canticle (Redaction of the manuscript of Jaén)
Llama de amor viva * Flame of Living Love
Coplas del mismo hechas sobre un éxtasis de alta contemplación * Songs Written in an Ecstasy of High Contemplation
Coplas del alma que pena por ver a Dios * Songs of the Soul That Aches to See God
Otras del mismo a lo divino * Other Verses to the Divine
Otras canciones a lo divino de Cristo y el alma * Other Songs to the Divinity of Christ and the Soul
Cantar del alma que se huelga de conocer a Dios por fe * Song of the Soul That Rejoices in the Knowle…