{"id":85380,"date":"2013-10-30T09:58:47","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T13:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=85380"},"modified":"2016-06-29T12:49:32","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T16:49:32","slug":"poetry-graduate-student-wins-national-translation-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/10\/poetry-graduate-student-wins-national-translation-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Graduate Student Wins National Translation Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Miller<\/a>
Miller Oberman, a doctoral candidate in poetry, in Homer Babbidge Library. (Ariel Dowski ’14 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When graduate student Miller Oberman heard that he had won Poetry<\/i> magazine\u2019s John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for Translation \u2013 whose past winners include Pulitzer Prize-winners and National Book Award-winners \u2013 for his translation of an Old English rune poem, he was incredulous.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I though it was some sort of mistake,\u201d says Oberman, a third-year Ph.D student in the Department of English. \u201cBut it also solidified something for me. Some people have asked, \u2018Why are you doing this? You study contemporary poetry.\u2019 This language is one ancestor of our language, and it can still speak to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oberman, a contemporary poet, won the national award for his translation of the 8th-century \u201cOld English Rune Poem\u201d by an unknown writer. He is the first student to win the award in the 13-year history of the prize.<\/p>\n

His original manuscript of contemporary poetry was also a finalist in the National Poetry Series.<\/p>\n

Oberman says the theme of invention draws a strong connection between Old English and contemporary poetry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people were just starting to write things down in English for the first time, they just didn\u2019t have a word for things all the time, so they would have to make it up,\u201d says Oberman. \u201cSo there\u2019s constant invention, and that is really what contemporary poetry is all about, finding new ways of saying things that are exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his translation notes<\/a>, Oberman says that one unique aspect of \u201cOld English Rune Poem\u201d is the poet\u2019s clear attempt to preserve the runic aspect of pagan culture. He says Old English poems, written roughly between the 5th and the 11th century, are one of the only links to the Germanic paganism that existed in England before Christianity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Britain became Christian, it was right around the same time that people were starting to write things down in English,\u201d says Oberman. \u201cSo we know almost nothing about the pagan history of Britain, which is why I think the runes are important to know about.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think people like reading because it\u2019s a way of time travel. You can go stand in Eliot\u2019s or Gertrude Stein\u2019s world. But when you translate, you add to that world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oberman explains that, unlike traditional medieval scholars, he is interested in translating Old English poems while maintaining the original poetic form.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome medievalists are translating this as close [as possible] to the original meaning, which is why they will translate a poem as prose,\u201d he says. \u201cPoems are more than the literal meanings of their words \u2013 they are made of sound, form, and rhythm. I try to bring the skills of a scholar and a poet to my translations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from his work in translation, Oberman also teaches freshman English in Storrs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI let my students know that no matter what, they are going to have to write and express themselves,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause you are going to have to express yourself if you want a job or even a date.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate professor of English Penelope Pelizzon says Oberman\u2019s exceptional character and talent as a poet have contributed to his success in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Miller will be one of the next generation’s significant poetic voices,\u201d says Pelizzon. \u201cThis is a person whose intelligence and artistry is matched by humor, self-effacing wit, and generosity as an artist and teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oberman hopes that more people will become interested in translation as a way of giving new meaning to poetry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people like reading because it\u2019s a way of time travel. You can go stand in Eliot\u2019s or Gertrude Stein\u2019s world,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when you translate, you add to that world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miller Oberman, the first student ever to win the award, was recognized for his translation of an 8th-century poem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":84727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,2226,2459,2076],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[63],"class_list":["post-85380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-clas","category-graduate-students","category-research"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 01:51:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85380"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85383,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85380\/revisions\/85383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/84727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85380"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=85380"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=85380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}