In 2021 Ross Gillett was awarded the Bálint Balassi Memorial Sword Award. This is a European award for literature presented in Budapest since 1997. It commemorates the major 16th Century Hungarian poet Bálint Balassi, a contemporary of Cervantes and Shakespeare. The award is presented annually to an outstanding Hungarian poet and to a foreign poet for excellence in translating Hungarian literature, including the works of Balassi. It is presented each year on Bálint's (Valentine's) Day, February 14, in the city of Buda.
At first only Hungarian poets received the award, but since 2002 a foreign literary translator has also been recognized each year. Since then the board has viewed the award as a European literary prize, but as it has also been received by Asian and American poets it is now award of global scope.
Ross was invited to participate in the award on a collaborative basis by Hungarian born poet and solicitor Arthur Kapantzian in 2019. Arthur lived in Melbourne, was very active in the promotion of Hungarian literature in Australia and committed himself to the Balassi translation process with great dedication. Sadly, he died after a short illness soon after presenting Ross with the last of the literal translations of the four Balassi poems required by the project. The process involved Ross in turning Arthur’s work into English versions with the aid, firstly, of Arthur’s translations and also with the assistance of a very big Hungarian-English dictionary. It was largely in honour of Arthur that Ross determined to complete what turned out to be a challenging undertaking, given the death of his collaborator and Covid-related delays in the awards process. It was not until 2021 that the award was presented in absentia in Budapest.
A key decision Ross made was to reproduce Balassi’s metre and rhyme schemes as faithfully as possible, which inevitably required compromising on the literal accuracy of the translated meaning of the poems. The decision to emphasise the formal beauty of the poems at the occasional expense of their exact meaning is one Ross stands by, and his English versions have been received well in both the Hungarian and English-speaking worlds.
“Peter Czipott [a major Balassi translator - see his The Pen and the Sword, Selected Poems by Bálint Balassi, Kairosz Kiadó, Budapest, 2022] judged Gillett’s work to be of a very high level (higher than his own!).”
Pál Molnár, President of the Bálint Balassi Memorial Sword Award.
Here are sample stanzas of Balassi poems in the original Hungarian, with English versions by Ross Gillett, based on translations from the Hungarian by Arthur Kapantzian.
Stanza 15 of “The Poet Seeks Absolution”
Éneklém ezeket megkeseredett szívvel,
Várván Úr kegyelmét fejemre szent lelkével,
Té-tova bujdosván, bűnömön bánkódván,
tusakodván ördöggel.
At war with the devil, with a bitter heart
I sing these words. Waiting to start
God’s work, I dedicate to him
My lost wanderer’s art.
Stanza 3 of “In Praise of Julia”
Én drágalátos palotám,
Jó illatú, piros rózsám,
Gyönyörű szép kis violám,
Élj sokáig, szép Juliám!
My cherished royal dwelling place,
My sweet red rose, my clever
Lover, my little violet,
Julia, live forever!
Stanza 4 of “The Twelfth of its Kind”
Azért ne bánkódjál, én jó vitéz társom,
ürülj minden gondoktól,
Eléggé hordoztuk héában az sok bút,
légyen már tőlünk távol,
Mostan igyunk, lakjunk, vigadjunk, táncoljunk,
távozzunk bánatunktól!
So no regrets, my kind warrior friend,
let your troubles fade.
We’ve borne our sorrows long enough, we’ll send
them packing. We are made
For dancing, drinking, joy and mirth. Let’s end
grief’s ruinous crusade.
At first only Hungarian poets received the award, but since 2002 a foreign literary translator has also been recognized each year. Since then the board has viewed the award as a European literary prize, but as it has also been received by Asian and American poets it is now award of global scope.
Ross was invited to participate in the award on a collaborative basis by Hungarian born poet and solicitor Arthur Kapantzian in 2019. Arthur lived in Melbourne, was very active in the promotion of Hungarian literature in Australia and committed himself to the Balassi translation process with great dedication. Sadly, he died after a short illness soon after presenting Ross with the last of the literal translations of the four Balassi poems required by the project. The process involved Ross in turning Arthur’s work into English versions with the aid, firstly, of Arthur’s translations and also with the assistance of a very big Hungarian-English dictionary. It was largely in honour of Arthur that Ross determined to complete what turned out to be a challenging undertaking, given the death of his collaborator and Covid-related delays in the awards process. It was not until 2021 that the award was presented in absentia in Budapest.
A key decision Ross made was to reproduce Balassi’s metre and rhyme schemes as faithfully as possible, which inevitably required compromising on the literal accuracy of the translated meaning of the poems. The decision to emphasise the formal beauty of the poems at the occasional expense of their exact meaning is one Ross stands by, and his English versions have been received well in both the Hungarian and English-speaking worlds.
“Peter Czipott [a major Balassi translator - see his The Pen and the Sword, Selected Poems by Bálint Balassi, Kairosz Kiadó, Budapest, 2022] judged Gillett’s work to be of a very high level (higher than his own!).”
Pál Molnár, President of the Bálint Balassi Memorial Sword Award.
Here are sample stanzas of Balassi poems in the original Hungarian, with English versions by Ross Gillett, based on translations from the Hungarian by Arthur Kapantzian.
Stanza 15 of “The Poet Seeks Absolution”
Éneklém ezeket megkeseredett szívvel,
Várván Úr kegyelmét fejemre szent lelkével,
Té-tova bujdosván, bűnömön bánkódván,
tusakodván ördöggel.
At war with the devil, with a bitter heart
I sing these words. Waiting to start
God’s work, I dedicate to him
My lost wanderer’s art.
Stanza 3 of “In Praise of Julia”
Én drágalátos palotám,
Jó illatú, piros rózsám,
Gyönyörű szép kis violám,
Élj sokáig, szép Juliám!
My cherished royal dwelling place,
My sweet red rose, my clever
Lover, my little violet,
Julia, live forever!
Stanza 4 of “The Twelfth of its Kind”
Azért ne bánkódjál, én jó vitéz társom,
ürülj minden gondoktól,
Eléggé hordoztuk héában az sok bút,
légyen már tőlünk távol,
Mostan igyunk, lakjunk, vigadjunk, táncoljunk,
távozzunk bánatunktól!
So no regrets, my kind warrior friend,
let your troubles fade.
We’ve borne our sorrows long enough, we’ll send
them packing. We are made
For dancing, drinking, joy and mirth. Let’s end
grief’s ruinous crusade.
