Why can translating a poem be more difficult than translating prose?

Translating poetry is uniquely challenging because poems are meticulously crafted to integrate lexical, grammatical, and phonological resources into a unified whole. While prose translation often focuses on conveying meaning, poetry relies on the specific formal properties of the source language, such as metre, rhyme, assonance, and alliteration.1

Because these elements are deeply embedded in the structure of the original language, they are difficult to replicate using the different resources of a target language. Furthermore, poetry utilizes words for their specific connotations and associative values—sensory, intellectual, and emotional—which often do not have direct equivalents in other languages.12

Translators face a constant dilemma: a literal, word-for-word translation may preserve the dictionary meaning but fail to capture the poem's "feel" or spirit, while a translation that prioritizes the original's aesthetic and emotive force often necessitates moving away from a literal rendering. Consequently, the more a poet relies on the specific form of their language, the more difficult the text becomes to translate adequately.12