User:Phil wink

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Hello. My name is Phil. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

My interests include the history and structure of board games, verse, and kathā (tales from India). My more recent rampages include attempts to unify the presentation of Shakespeare's Sonnets, to aid the formatting of foreign passages with English translations, and (the work of a lifetime) to ensure that all verse quotes are cited (as required by WP:V) and formatted acceptably (especially avoiding "indenting colons" per MOS:INDENTGAP).

Awards

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|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: bottom; height: 1.1em;" | The Literary Barnstar

style="vertical-align: top; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | Seeing as how I can't do much to help you get a {{icon|FA}}, I figured I could at least give you this well–deserved literary barnstar as a token of appreciation for all your great contributions to our coverage of Dickinson, Chaucer, and others. INeverCry 17:41, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

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|style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | The Original Barnstar

style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | For attention to the formatting of verse Alarichall (talk) 21:07, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Formal equivalent verse

There is a general consensus on the English Wikipedia that illustrative English translations of foreign-language poetry must always be as literal as possible. Form, tone, literary quality or influence be damned. This ratifies the idea that poets are notable for what they say, not how they say it, when the truth is more often the reverse. It also perversely discourages the inclusion of professional, even culturally significant, translations (which often wickedly reach past lexical blamelessness to grasp at aesthetic value), encouraging instead ad hoc translations by Wikipedians. I admit that, in this community (or any), it must surely be easier to end a conflict by deferring to literalness than to taste. Well, I don't agree with this mindset, but I'm not gonna fight it. However, when the purpose of the verse quotation is to illustrate some formal feature of verse, then dogged literalism defeats the very rationale for its inclusion. Therefore, in these cases, formal equivalent verse paraphrases should be supplied: reflecting, as faithfully as possible in English, all formal features that are germane in the given context. Literalness is of course still desirable, but of secondary importance here. Just as published translations may be deemed insufficiently literal, frequently they are insufficiently formally equivalent to serve these illustrative purposes. So over the years I have had occasion to supply a few such formal equivalents, which, out of vanity, I list below.

class="wikitable sortable"; style="font-size:85%" \|+ Formal equivalent verse paraphrases I have provided for Wikipedia ! Original incipit !! English incipit !! Author !! For article
{{langx\|vi\|Trăm năm trong cõi người ta}}	A century of life	Nguyễn Du	Vietnamese poetry#Lục bát & Lục bát
{{langx\|pl\|Z twej śmierci}}	With thy death	data-sort-value="Grabowiecki"\|Sebastian Grabowiecki	Sebastian Grabowiecki
{{langx\|pl\|Moja wdzięczna Orszulo}}	My Ursula, so charming	data-sort-value="Kochanowski"\|Jan Kochanowski	Polish alexandrine
{{langx\|cs\|V jezeru zeleném}}	Emerald, ivory	data-sort-value="Mácha"\|Karel Hynek Mácha	Czech alexandrine
{{langx\|cs\|Chaos! Chaos!}}	Chaos! Chaos!	data-sort-value="Vrchlický"\|Jaroslav Vrchlický	Spenserian stanza (with {{u\|Anagram16}})
{{langx\|fr\|Nous partîmes cinq cents}}	As five hundred we left	data-sort-value="Corneille"\|Pierre Corneille	French alexandrine & Heroic verse
{{langx\|fr\|La très-chère était nue}}	My most darling was bare	data-sort-value="Baudelaire"\|Charles Baudelaire	French alexandrine
{{langx\|fr\|J'ai disloqué}}	I dislocate	data-sort-value="Hugo"\|Victor Hugo	French alexandrine
{{langx\|cs\|Z hlubin města}}	Out from cities	data-sort-value="Vrchlický"\|Jaroslav Vrchlický	(with {{u\|Anagram16}}) not in mainspace
{{langx\|pl\|Umarły jeszcze}}	Your death cannot diminish	data-sort-value="Asnyk"\|Adam Asnyk	(with {{u\|Anagram16}}) not in mainspace
{{langx\|pl\|Nieszczęściu kwoli}}	Since my misfortunes	data-sort-value="Kochanowski"\|Jan Kochanowski	Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry (with {{u\|Anagram16}})
{{langx\|fa\|زلف آشفته\|translit=zol-'āšofte-vo}}	Hair a right mess	Hafez	(based on {{u\|Kanjuzi}}'s literal translation) not in mainspace
{{langx\|th\|เสียงฦๅเสียงเล่าอ้าง}}	So many rumors	anon (Lilit Phra Lo)	Lilit Phra Lo#Meter
{{langx\|it\|Mentr'era per cantare}}	While your delightful gifts	data-sort-value="Rucellai"\|Giovanni di Bernardo Rucellai	Hendecasyllable (based on Leigh Hunt's translation)
{{langx\|pl\|Ktokolwiek będziesz}}	Visitor passing	data-sort-value="Mickiewicz"\|Adam Mickiewicz	Hendecasyllable
{{langx\|la\|Cui dono lepidum}}	To whom dedicate	Catullus	Hendecasyllable
{{langx\|grc\|φαίνεταί μοι\|translit=phaínetaí moi}}	He, it seems to me	Sappho	Hendecasyllable & Sapphic stanza
{{langx\|la\|Talibus armis}}	Furnished with all	anon (Carmen Campidoctoris)	Sapphic stanza
{{langx\|vi\|Gió đập cành đa}}	Wind smacks the banyan trees	anon	Vietnamese poetry#Ca dao (loose imitation, with {{u\|Lachy70}})
{{langx\|vi\|Yêu nhau cau}}	In love, we'll split	anon	Vietnamese poetry#Poetic riddles (with {{u\|Lachy70}})

Tips n tails

;Groups: [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Minnesota_User_Group Wikimedia Minnesota User Group] — WikiProject Poetry/The Canterbury Tales task force

;Handy links: Help:Table — [http://excel2wiki.net/wikipedia.php Copy & Paste Excel-to-Wiki] — [http://www.tablesgenerator.com/mediawiki_tables MediaWiki Tables Generator] — {{tl|citation}} — WP:CS1

class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" \|+ WORK-IN-PROGRESS (regress?) ! Page !! Destination !! Notes
sandbox1	Robert Bridges	Replacement for current "Personal and professional life" and "Literary work" sections
sandbox2	Pachisi	Comparative table of rules
sandbox3		Monospacing tests
sandbox4	Caesura	Notes on types of breaks
sandbox5	Iambic Pentameter?	Conflicting theories
sandbox6
sandbox7