The Publisher
Poetry in Translation is a niche, digital publisher providing modern, high-quality open access translations of classic texts by famous poets alongside original poetry and critical works. Our founder, A. S. Kline, is a poet and translator previously published by Borders. He created the Poetry in Translation site with the goal of increasing accessibility of the classics. If you value our work, please consider supporting us.
Our policy is that of providing open access, downloadable texts, free for non-commercial reuse. If you wish to enquire about commercial applications, contact us. For further information, please see our copyright statement.
Many of our works are now available in print or audio editions. For further details please visit our shop. If you have any suggestions for further texts that you would like to see translated, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
You can search our archive or follow our news feed for regular updates. You may also be interested in our curated external links.
Sample Collaborations
Detroit Opera
Provision of an English translation of Federico García Lorca's Ballad of the Small Plaza for performance surtilting of "Ainadamarde: Fountain of Tears".
They Wrote For Her
Provision of translations of Horace and Chateaubriand for "They Wrote For Her" - celebrating Elefsina as the 2023 European Capital of Culture.
The Poetry Book
Provision of a translation of Chaucer's Ballade of Good Counsel for DK's "The Poetry Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained" in the Big Ideas Series.
BBC World Service
Provision of translations for inclusion in the BBC World Service broadcast of The Forum episode "Dido of Carthage: A love story gone wrong".
The Forgotten City
Provision of translations for character dialogue in the upcoming computer game set in a secret underground city during the Roman Empire.
Nottingham New Theatre
Provision of translation for the Nottingham New Theatre's performance of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. An open access recording of the production is available.
OCR Classics
Provision of texts for UK educational use in Oxford Cambridge and RSA course materials, examination papers and text books from Bloomsbury Publishing.
Time Travel Rome
A unique Mobile App that finds and describes every significant ancient Roman city, fortress, theatre, or sanctuary – in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Poesie
Poesie is a portal into the world of classic poetry putting thousands of classic poems in your pocket and providing ways to explore, discover, and interact.
Faust - Burgtheater
Provision of A. S. Kline's English translation of Act I of Goethe's Faust for performance subtitling of Martin Kušej's production of Faust at the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna.
Treason and Plot
Art Malik and Frances Barber read from texts ranging from Milton's Paradise Lost and Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello to poetry by Emily Dickinson and Anna Akhmatova.
Utopia
Marking the 500th anniversary of Thomas More's book on the subject, poetry, prose and music on the theme of utopia, with readings by Nancy Carroll and Philip Franks.
Al-Andalus
Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Actors Candela Gomez and Khalid Abdalla with readings from Abd Allah ibn al-Simak and Lorca to Sameer Rahim and Victoria Hislop (United Kingdom, September 2019).
Havergal Brian: Faust
Martyn Brabbins conducting the English National Opera in a complete recording of Brian's last opera Faust in the world-famous Studio 1 at Abbey Road. English translation for CD booklet provided by A.S. Kline.
Die Unbekannte
One of six new musical settings from Heine's Romances cycle commissioned by Peter Shea, and recorded in concert at North Hadley Congregational Church June 2019. English translation by A.S. Kline.
Yerma at NIDA
Contributed English translation for a production of Yerma by Federico García Lorca at Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (Australia, June 2018).
The Ballad of the Salt Water
Contributed English translation for the composition "The Ballad of the Salt Water" by Douwe Eisenga, inspired by 3 of Federico García Lorca's poems (Netherlands, 2017).
Unbroken flowers
Unbroken flowers: Elegy in colour for Rainer Maria Rilke and Marina Tsvetaeva. A sequence of paintings anchored in the elegy Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in June 1926.
Of Gods and Men
Contributed English translation from Lucan – The Civil War for "Of Gods and Men": 100 Stories from Ancient Greece & Rome edited by Daisy Dunn.
A Little History of Poetry by John Carey
Contributed English translations from Petrarch's Canzoniere for A Little History of Poetry by John Carey covering English poetry from Beowulf to the present.
Alpha Publishing
Provision of translations for inclusion in the Alpha Literature Grade 12 Integrated English Language Arts Program for Middle-Eastern and North African distribution.
Be Brave
Be Brave is the first in a series of erasures in which author J.M. Farkas puts a feminist, revisionist spin on classic literature. Permanent marker, meet Beowulf.
Song Of The Spirits...
Provision of translation for Song Of The Spirits Over The Water by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe set to piano with female vocalists by Matt Arnett.
The Author & Translator
A S. Kline is the author and/or translator of the majority of works hosted by Poetry in Translation. He was born in 1947 and lives in England. He graduated in Mathematics from the University of Manchester, and was Chief Information Officer (Systems Director) of a large UK Company, before dedicating himself to his literary work and interests. His work consists of translations of poetry; critical works, biographical history with poetry as a central theme; and his own original poetry. He has translated into English from Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Chinese and the European languages. He also maintains a deep interest in developments in Mathematics and the Sciences.
He continues to write predominantly for the Internet, making all works available as open access, with an added focus on the rapidly developing area of electronic books. His most extensive works are complete translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses and Dante's Divine Comedy, both published electronically, with a comprehensive in-depth index fully hyper-linked to the text. Many of his works have also been published in printed book and audio formats.
Our Thanks
Many sincere thanks to all those who have made donations. They are used to fund the costs of bandwidth and development of the main site and your generosity helps us to keep the archive online and free to all. Thank you also to all those who have contributed with comments and suggestions to help improve our offerings.
We hope you enjoy wandering the slopes of Parnassus as much as we do. Please contact us with any questions, thoughts or ideas on poetry and translation. Best wishes to all readers.
A. S. (Tony) Kline
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Qu’il fu un temps qu’il n’estoit rien
Qu’on peüst dire ‘cecy est mien’,
Car toute chose estoit commune
Comme le soleil et la lune.
In this world there was a time
When none could say ‘this is mine’
For all was common, held as one,
Like the moon and the sun.