Translations Can Change Alter Theme Meanings Comments

I totally agree and accessed this problem, when deciding to write a few poems inspired by the poet Heinrich Heine. I did not have the language German, but Germany was originally 303 separate states, unified by the conquest of Napoleon, then 33 states after his defeat. Unified by Prussia, until the First Reich. So I had a lot of the history and original culture. The easy solution was to avoid politics and concentrate on nature themes.

With nature poems written by the poet Heinrich Heine, culture was sometimes a homesick longing for the fatherland; or could be a direct focus on his chosen aspect theme of nature. His love poems were more universal or personal love themes, but with cultural values of a past era. I sometimes sought a mix of original language, and contemporary for a subtle play on cultural shifts into the present era.