The paradox of the prankish little birdie

Abstract

The (im)possibility of poetry translation has long been debated. Even translators in the “possible” camp are often faced with poems that they consider “untranslatable”, such as “Poeminho do Contra”, by Mario Quintana. But when creativity (or prankishness) opens a window, the little bird in the poem is freed from confinement, from untranslatability, to fly away and sing in other language, as this essay tries to show with the English version “Wee Protest Poem”, by Sarah Rebecca Kersley. Keywords: Poetical translation. Untranslatability. Poeminho do Contra. Wee Protest Poem. Mario Quintana. Sarah Rebecca Kersley.