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Robert Bagg

Robert Bagg

Robert Bagg born (September 21, 1935) is an American poet who grew up in Millburn, New Jersey. Throughout his years he has held careers such as a poet and professor. Robert’s passion for literature would begin around the time he made sketches in his school's newspaper. As he continued to go through his education he would begin to find love in the works of other poets and begin to see this as a calling. He would pursue his passion for literature and go to Amherst to learn more about his future career. Once arrived his first work would be a series of poems based on pranks and adventures from childhood times. One of his writings would, later on, be turned into a film by Richard Wechsler. With this work, he continued to master his craft slowly and pursue new topics to write about and express his emotions on. Robert Bagg would receive the Mount Holyoke College Glascok Memorial Poetry Prize which became one of his first achievements in his storyline of awards and career.Throughout his college years, Professor John Moore and Thomas Gould helped guide Robert. Robert Bagg would graduate from Amherst in the year of 1957. Robert would then proceed to go and do two years of fellowship in France and Italy. From here he would further his education by attending Harvard and finally the University of Connecticut to receive his PH.D. in English. Robert would use the knowledge he obtained and begin teaching at the University of Washington for two years. After this position he would move to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to teach poetry and English literature.Robert would also hold positions as Graduate Director in the years 1982-1986 and move on to Department Chair for the years 1986-1992. He would proceed to retire at the age of 60 from teaching and focus on his writing and translation more intensely.

Robert’s first book ever written would be Madonna of the Cello which would later on become a finalist in the prestigious award categories of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Not only did Robert Bagg write books but also translated plays that have been shown in over 72 productions in the course of four continents. In total, he would create six total books with eight different translations and more as still pursues his passions. Robert also held NEA and NEH fellowships that would help his work. Although Robert had an extensive professional life he would have had a romantic life as well. He would first marry himself to Sally Robinson with whom he would have five children. In the year 1977 however Robert would divorce his wife and marry Marry Bauman the same year as well. He would publish a book with her in 2017 called Let Us Watch Richard Wilbur: A Biographical Study as she was a freelancer. Currently, his most recent work would be a translation which was published in November 2019. He now resides with his wife in Worthington, Massachusetts, and continues to work on his translation.

Books Written By Bagg

Robert Bagg had a big interest and was impressed by poems with romance and adventures. He started writing poetry and studying literature which he was committed to. He would go to college and became great friends with his Greek professors which is where he began to translate various Greek plays. However, after graduating from his first college and spending time abroad he wrote his first book of poems. The Madonna of the Cello was his first book and it became the finalist for the 1962 Pulitzer and national book award. His experience abroad with natives of France and Italy as well as putting himself in two different ancient cultures allowed Bagg to gain perspectives that helped develop his poetry. After spending time in Europe, Bagg went to Harvard where he would meet important people that would help develop his poetry. He met translator James Scully, who was an important person that helped him translate various books. Eventually Bag would go on to teach at universities, he specialized in English Romantic Poetry, modern poetry, great books from English and European literature. After retiring he published more books and also translated a few more as he wanted to make up for lost time. Robert Bagg has only written six books that were not translations, those are the only books he has authored. His first book was The Madonna of the Cello would eventually become a finalist for both Pulitzer and the national book award as previously stated and later on would include books like, The Tandem Ride, and Horsegod. The first book he wrote on Madonna of the Cello was a collection of various poems that Robert Bagg had written and he put them in one book. This is important due to the fact that Robert Bagg had published his first ever book and it immediately received national recognition, which showed the importance of his writing and translations to come. The Tandem Ride follows Robert Bagg in many outdoor, deskbound, and romantic adventures. The book shows his life as he goes from boyhood through adolescence and eventually maturity into old age. These poems were written and composed in narrative blank verse and traditional form. Robert Bagg poetry at this time had been highly praised for its “narrative drive” and also among other things, so when the book with the title of Horse God was published it added a selection of work that Bagg had been working on. The book follows Bagg throughout life in an adventurous way, it explores his youth and his maturity. Throughout the book, Bagg shows the subjects of death of friends, war, politics, religion and drama with human relationships. He wrote about personal experiences that helped draw a certain image towards readers to help them understand what Bagg was writing about.This was important because Bagg was publishing a lot and his translations were also getting recognition as he grew as an author. To conclude, Robert Bagg has had his poems included in “21 anthologies of verse”. Oxford University would go on to publish a version of Baggs translation of Euripides Hippolytos, and the university of Massachusetts would publish a translation Euripides' The Bakkhai and the Oedipus Plays of Sophocles. These same translations, among other translations, have been in 72 productions of plays, the most recent one was in 2015.

Greek Tragedies translated by Robert Bagg

Some of Baggs main works include numerous translations of Greek Tragedies and plays. Most of his translations focus on the writings of the Greek tragedian Sophocles. Sophocles has been known to write roughly one hundred and twenty plays, but most of them are fragmented and have not withstood the test of time. However seven of Sophocles' tragedies have survived in complete condition. Bagg has translated all seven of these works.Robert is renowned for taking old and hard to read ancient Greek tragedies and translating them into much more accessible and easier to read pieces. In “Oedipus at Kolonos” , Robbert translates a play about the fallen hero “King Oedipus' ' who tries to redeem himself from his past actions by surrendering himself to the “will of the gods". “Oedipus at Kolonos” is Sophocles second chapter in his saga. Bagg’s translation of this tragedy was released on October 19th 2012 along with the other translations of Robert. Another translation by Robert is “Elektra”, the tale focuses on the detrimental effects of revenge for those who seek it. The story revolves around a royal family that is trapped in bloodshed. “Anitgone '' is another one of Robbert’s translations, it is the last chapter of the Oedipus cycle and it dives into the conflict of choosing between civic and familial duties. The story focuses on the eldest daughter of Oedipus , Anitgone. “Women of Trakhis'’ is a drama translated by Robbert that is centered around Deianeira, the wife of Herakles. The story is set around her desperate attempts to keep her husband safe from his risky lifestyle and actions, this inadvertently leads to the downfall of both Deianeira and Heracles. “Oedipus​​​ The King” the story tells about the tragic fate of Oedipus. As a plague ravages through his homeland “Thebes”, he comes to find out that he’s been prophesied from childhood to destroy his family and loved ones. “The Oedipus Cycle” follows a royal family in “Thebes” whose toils for greatness  and Nobility lead to their downfall.” The complete play of Sophocles” has numerous stories from the Oedipus saga as well as other individual titles. It was released on August 1st 2011. Bagg has also translated works from other Greek writers such as Euripdes. “Four” is a collection of tragedies by Euripdes translated by Robert, Four contains the four tragedies of Medea,Bakkhai,Hippolytos and Cyclops. Bagg’s translations are prized for being able to take ancient and dense writing and turning it into easily understandable and readable content suitable for reading,teaching or performing.

Literary Translation Challenges

Not much is known about Bagg’s difficulty with translating pieces of Greek plays, but the overall challenges of translating literature from one language to another are well known. The translations created by Bagg of various Greek poetry, plays and more lead us to believe that he has an understanding of the Greek language, specifically ancient Greek or that Bagg has a lot of resources available to him that helps translate these pieces of literature for a new generation. He has translated greek literature like “Elektra”, “Antigone” and “Oedipus: The King”, which are only three of pieces of literature that he translated into English for modern audiences. Translation of Literary pieces like Books, Poetry, Plays, and more come with the challenges of translating from one language to another. Translation of a literary text has to keep up with the tone of the author as well as the structure of the language as a whole. Literary translation takes skill and time that must be used to better the translation of a text. Translating a piece of literature from, for example, Greek to English you must have an understanding of how both languages work and how you can properly translate the pieces of literature so that both sides better understand the stories correctly. A major hurdle in translation is the use of slang in the original work. Slang can really change how you go about translating the piece of literature in your hands. A challenge with the use of slang in the original text is that you need to have an understanding of both the target language and the original language’s context when translating your text. The major hurdle that translators face is the possibility of changing the meaning of the text that they are translating. Translating the meaning of the text with one hundred percent accuracy helps you better take the meaning of the text from one language to another. The writing structure of the target language is also a major hurdle to the success of your translation as languages like Spanish and English have similar writing structures with some minute differences. Languages like Spanish, English, French, and German are much easier to translate into and from as there are many resources and people who can help guide the translation of literary pieces along the path, but Bagg translated books from Ancient Greek, which does not have as many resources available as it is dead language. When translating a piece of literature, you must understand the original person and their mindset. Everyone has different socioeconomic, cultural, race, gender and academic background which influence your translations of the original work as you must understand the original author’s background. You are not only researching information to translate a text but also researching to understand the author of said text. When translating from one language to another, sometimes words in one language are not able to be translated because the original word doesn’t exist in the new language. This may hinder how you go about translating the work as changing the word or omitting it can change the meaning entirely.