[spectre] big frogs in little ponds - exercise in poetic translation

[Norman]

Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
(Thirty-One Translations)
The original Japanese:
Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

Old pond — frogs jumped in — sound of water. Translated by Lafcadio Hearn

A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.		Translated by Curtis Hidden Page

Into the ancient pond
A frog jumps
Water’s sound!		Translated by D.T. Suzuki

The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.	Translated by R.H. Blyth

An old pond —
The sound
Of a diving frog.		Translated by Kenneth Rexroth

Old pond
     and a frog-jump-in
          water-sound		Translated by Harold G. Henderson

The old pond, yes, and
A frog-jumping-in-the-
Water’s noise!			Translated by G.S. Fraser

The ancient pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.	Translated by Donald Keene

old pond
frog leaping
splash				Translated by Cid Corman

The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!				Translated by Alan Watts

Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water —
A deep resonance.		Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa

The quiet pond
A frog leaps in,
The sound of the water.	Translated by Edward Seidensticker

The old pond —
A frog leaps in,
And a splash.			Translated by Makoto Ueda

old pond
a frog in-leaping
water-note			Translated by Cana Maeda

The old pond
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!			Translated by Allen Ginsberg

The old pond is still
a frog leaps right into it
splashing the water		Translated by Earl Miner & Hiroko Odagiri

old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound			Translated by William J. Higginson

Old dark sleepy pool
quick unexpected frog
goes plop! Watersplash.	Translated by Peter Beilenson

Listen! a frog
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond!		Translated by Dorothy Britton

Old pond
leap — splash
a frog.				Translated by Lucien Stryk

The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.	Translated by Robert Aitken

The old pond —
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.		Translated by Robert Hass

At the ancient pond
a frog plunges into
the sound of water		Translated by Sam Hamill

dark old pond
:
a frog plunks in		Translated by Dick Bakken

Ancient silent pond
Then a frog jumped right in
Watersound: kerplunk		Translated by John S. Major

old pond
a frog leaps in —
a moment after, silence	Translated by Ross Figgins

pond
     frog
          plop!			Translated by James Kirkup

There once was a curious frog
Who sat by a pond on a log
And, to see what resulted,
In the pond catapulted
With a water-noise heard round the bog.	Translated by Alfred H. Marks

une paisible mare
une grenouille fait des bulles
on ne s'entend plus                            Translated by Sally Jane Norman