STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATING POETRY
Keywords:
Key words: poetic translation, rhyme, verse, rhythm, blank verse, free-verse, stanza.Abstract
Introduction: The most contentious area of translation science is poetic translation. There are many different theories about its likelihood and impossibility. The majority of them concur that the translation of poetry is hampered by the loss of aesthetic value. However, this value can still be maintained if the translator employs effective methods for finishing the job. In addition to adhering to the processes of selection and arrangement and their principles (proposed by Nida, 1990) on the macro and micro levels of the poetic texts, strategies of aesthetic accommodation (proposed by Aiwei 2005) combined with the strategy of compensation (proposed by Eesa, 2006) help to accomplish this task. By using these approaches when translating any poetic material, the poet would be able to maintain the work's overall aesthetic worth of order to test the viability of using these techniques while translating poetry, they are applied to an excerpt from the first section of Burnt Norton (the first quartet of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets). On an excerpt from Burnt Norton's second part, other methods based on the selection and arrangement of factors at the macro and micro levels are used. However, due to the extensive space they would require if applied, the principles of selection and arrangement are not used in this study.
References
REFERENCES:
Aiwei, Shi.2005."Translatability and Poetic Translation 2:' Translation Journal 5:1- 40
Bonnefoy,Y.1992."Translating Poetry".Trans. John Alexander and Clive Wilmer.Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dryden to Derrida.
Eds.Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet.Chicago:UCP,71-81.
Cuddon,J.A.1982. A Dictionary of Literary Terms .New York: Penguin Books
Dastjerdi, Hossein Vahid.2005 ."Translation of Petry :Sa'dis Oneness of Mankind Revisited". Translation Directory. WWW.TranslationDirectory.com.Or Vahid @ Hahoo .com
Eesa, M. Tahir .2000. "Reader Theory: A Study of the Role of the Translator of Literary Texts". An unpublished thesis. Baghdad AL_Mustansiriyah University.2006.
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Eliot, T.S. 1944.Four Quartets. London: Faber & Faber Many translators and theorists are skeptic about the translatability
of poetry .They have different reasoning for that, but, they all agree with
Frost’s statement that “poetry is what is lost in translation”, which became
a cliché for those who disavow the translation of poetry.
Jacobson (in Shulte&Biguenet,1992:151) states that by definition
poetry is untranslatable, and only creative transposition is possible. This
transposition could be intralingual(from one poetic shape into another) or
interlingual(from one language into another) or intersemiotic (from one
system of signs into another).
Untranslatability of poetry, for Bonnyfoy (ibid:186),comes from
the many contradictions that the translator meets and can not eliminate that
he must make too many sacrifices. Another source for this untranslatability
could be seen in Benjamin’s notion about the difference in the relationship
between content and language (form) in the original and in the translation.
Such content and form form a certain unity in the original like a fruit and
its skin while the form of the translation envelops content like a royal robe
with ample folds .The language (or form) of the translation is more exalted
than the language of the original and “thus remains unsuited to its content,
overpowering and alien ” which makes the translation
superfluous(ibid:76).This notion is supported by Nietzsche’s position that
the tempo of style in any language is the most difficult to translate(ibid:69).
Raffel(1988:12) attributes the impossibility of translating poetry to
the differences between the SL and the TL that many significant aspects
of the original literary work can not be reproduced in the new language
.This covers phonology, syntactic structures, vocabulary, literary history
and prosody .
The impossibility of translating a poem ,for some, comes from its
being an organic whole in which it is impossible to dissociate its content
from form as far as the functional and aesthetic values are concerned
though content and form can be dissociated as far as the structural or
linguistic and stylistic analyses are concerned (Najjar,1987:103-4).
a. Nida (1964:177) attributes the problem in translating poetry to
Mukarovsky’s distinction between poetic language and standard language
from the systematic violation of language norm that poetic language
makes and the superimposition of one set of constraints upon another. The
poetic superstructure which is diverse in different languages seems
untranslatable and makes formal agreement rare. Hence ,it is improper to
seek formal equivalence to communicate or elicit similar feelings.
All these notions make the difficulty of poetic translation spring
from two areas: on the one hand the words and meanings; and the flow
and rhythm(or rhyme)on the other hand.
1.2. Feasibility
a. Jacobson’s “creative transposition” is not the only outlet for the
poetic translation .Some theorists find different strategies for poetic
translation.
Many translators and theorists are skeptic about the translatability
of poetry .They have different reasoning for that, but, they all agree with
Frost’s statement that “poetry is what is lost in translation”, which became
a cliché for those who disavow the translation of poetry.
Jacobson (in Shulte&Biguenet,1992:151) states that by definition
poetry is untranslatable, and only creative transposition is possible. This
transposition could be intralingual(from one poetic shape into another) or
interlingual(from one language into another) or intersemiotic (from one
system of signs into another).
Untranslatability of poetry, for Bonnyfoy (ibid:186),comes from
the many contradictions that the translator meets and can not eliminate that
he must make too many sacrifices. Another source for this untranslatability
could be seen in Benjamin’s notion about the difference in the relationship
between content and language (form) in the original and in the translation.
Such content and form form a certain unity in the original like a fruit and
its skin while the form of the translation envelops content like a royal robe
with ample folds .The language (or form) of the translation is more exalted
than the language of the original and “thus remains unsuited to its content,
overpowering and alien ” which makes the translation
superfluous(ibid:76).This notion is supported by Nietzsche’s position that
the tempo of style in any language is the most difficult to translate(ibid:69).
Raffel(1988:12) attributes the impossibility of translating poetry to
the differences between the SL and the TL that many significant aspects
of the original literary work can not be reproduced in the new language
.This covers phonology, syntactic structures, vocabulary, literary history
and prosody .
The impossibility of translating a poem ,for some, comes from its
being an organic whole in which it is impossible to dissociate its content
from form as far as the functional and aesthetic values are concerned
though content and form can be dissociated as far as the structural or
linguistic and stylistic analyses are concerned (Najjar,1987:103-4).
a. Nida (1964:177) attributes the problem in translating poetry to
Mukarovsky’s distinction between poetic language and standard language
from the systematic violation of language norm that poetic language
makes and the superimposition of one set of constraints upon another. The
poetic superstructure which is diverse in different languages seems
untranslatable and makes formal agreement rare. Hence ,it is improper to
seek formal equivalence to communicate or elicit similar feelings.
All these notions make the difficulty of poetic translation spring
from two areas: on the one hand the words and meanings; and the flow
and rhythm(or rhyme)on the other hand.
1.2. Feasibility
a. Jacobson’s “creative transposition” is not the only outlet for the
poetic translation .Some theorists find different strategies for poetic
translation.
Many translators and theorists are skeptic about the translatability
of poetry .They have different reasoning for that, but, they all agree with
Frost’s statement that “poetry is what is lost in translation”, which became
a cliché for those who disavow the translation of poetry.
Jacobson (in Shulte&Biguenet,1992:151) states that by definition
poetry is untranslatable, and only creative transposition is possible. This
transposition could be intralingual(from one poetic shape into another) or
interlingual(from one language into another) or intersemiotic (from one
system of signs into another).
Untranslatability of poetry, for Bonnyfoy (ibid:186),comes from
the many contradictions that the translator meets and can not eliminate that
he must make too many sacrifices. Another source for this untranslatability
could be seen in Benjamin’s notion about the difference in the relationship
between content and language (form) in the original and in the translation.
Such content and form form a certain unity in the original like a fruit and
its skin while the form of the translation envelops content like a royal robe
with ample folds .The language (or form) of the translation is more exalted
than the language of the original and “thus remains unsuited to its content,
overpowering and alien ” which makes the translation
superfluous(ibid:76).This notion is supported by Nietzsche’s position that
the tempo of style in any language is the most difficult to translate(ibid:69).
Raffel(1988:12) attributes the impossibility of translating poetry to
the differences between the SL and the TL that many significant aspects
of the original literary work can not be reproduced in the new language
.This covers phonology, syntactic structures, vocabulary, literary history
and prosody .
The impossibility of translating a poem ,for some, comes from its
being an organic whole in which it is impossible to dissociate its content
from form as far as the functional and aesthetic values are concerned
though content and form can be dissociated as far as the structural or
linguistic and stylistic analyses are concerned (Najjar,1987:103-4).
a. Nida (1964:177) attributes the problem in translating poetry to
Mukarovsky’s distinction between poetic language and standard language
from the systematic violation of language norm that poetic language
makes and the superimposition of one set of constraints upon another. The
poetic superstructure which is diverse in different languages seems
untranslatable and makes formal agreement rare. Hence ,it is improper to
seek formal equivalence to communicate or elicit similar feelings.
All these notions make the difficulty of poetic translation spring
from two areas: on the one hand the words and meanings; and the flow
and rhythm(or rhyme)on the other hand.
1.2. Feasibility
a. Jacobson’s “creative transposition” is not the only outlet for the
poetic translation .Some theorists find different strategies for poetic
translation.
Искусство перевода (Владимир Набоков). // Омилия: Международный литературный клуб. [Электронный ресурс].
URL: https://omiliya.org/article/iskusstvo-perevoda-vladimir-nabokov.html
(дата обращения: 16.01.2019).
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