Introduction to transating poetry. Literally.

1. Olga Łabendowicz, MA
Literary
Translation
#2
Poetry

2. The Oxford English Dictionary defines poetry as the “artart
of work of a poetof work of a poet”.
Definition
Translating poetry is also usually understood as an art.Translating poetry is also usually understood as an art.
Thus, translators facing the challenge of translating poetry
should acknowledge the fact that their artful work will
consist of treating in an artful way what other artist has
created.

4. What's going on?What's going on?
Why is it difficult?
Practice time
What challenges we face while
translating poetry?

5. Poems are virtuous pieces of literary writing. They
express emotionsexpress emotions, create sensitive imagery,create sensitive imagery, and
strike the most essential human emotionsstrike the most essential human emotions.
Whoever has had the chance of reading a poem translated from
one language into the other will probably agree on the fact that
the translated version lacks that “something” that makes thethe translated version lacks that “something” that makes the
original poem so unique and attractiveoriginal poem so unique and attractive.
In most cases, the language professional fails in accurately
conveying in the new language everything that makes the
original text an artful literary work: its sound, its rhythm, itsits sound, its rhythm, its
metrics, its syntax and so onmetrics, its syntax and so on. He might have done a very good
work from the language point of view, but that text written in
different stanzas is very far from a translated version of a poem.
Why is it difficult?

6. To say that a translator failed to provide a perfect translation of a
poem just because he was not knowledgeable enough in the
target language means that the critic is drastically simplifying the
problem.
There are no exact equivalents in two languages so, by definition, no
translation will be a copy of the original text in a different language. A
good translation is that in which the text in the target languagegood translation is that in which the text in the target language
accurately expresses the meaning, sense and intention of the writer ofaccurately expresses the meaning, sense and intention of the writer of
the source textthe source text in such a way that it sounds natural to the readersounds natural to the reader.
Poems thus imply an additional challengean additional challenge: the translator is
constrained by the metrics, the syntax, and the poet’s ideasconstrained by the metrics, the syntax, and the poet’s ideas. This
is probably why it has often been reassured that there’s no betterthere’s no better
translator of a poem than another poettranslator of a poem than another poet. Everything seems to
indicate that poets have that sensitive soul and ability to dig into
the other poet’s feelings and intentions.
Why is it difficult?
http://www.daytranslations.com/blog/2014/01/translation-literary-works-challenge-translating-poetry-3660

8. What challenges we face while
translating poetry?
Form
One of the first things that a reader notices when he looks at a
poem is that it is not written in prose but in verse. And the
translator should be careful enough to try to respect the poet’stry to respect the poet’s
form as best as possibleform as best as possible in his version.
The structure cannot be separated from the messagestructure cannot be separated from the message and,
therefore, the translator should make sure that the sonnet his
working on does not end up as an ode or that the haiku he’s
translating does not end up as an elegy.

9. What challenges we face while
translating poetry?
FormForm
Even though literary translators are not always expected
to stick to the number of verses that each stanza has, it is
highly appreciatedhighly appreciated when they do.
It expresses that the language professional has made an
extra effort to respect as much as possible the intentionsto respect as much as possible the intentions
and message of the original artistand message of the original artist.

10. What challenges we face while
translating poetry?
FormForm

11. What challenges we face while
translating poetry?
AlliterationAlliteration
AlliterationAlliteration is a literary device that repeats a speech sound in aliterary device that repeats a speech sound in a
sequence of words that are close to each othersequence of words that are close to each other. It typically uses
consonants at the beginning of a word to give stress to its syllable.
Alliteration plays a very crucial role in poetry and literature:
1) It provides a work with musical rhythms.
2) Poems that use alliteration are read and recited with more interest
and appeal.
3) Poems with alliteration can be easier to memorize.
4) Alliteration lends structure, flow, and beauty to any piece of writing.
Today, alliteration is often used to make slogansslogans more memorable or to make
children’s stories more fun to read out loud.

13. What challenges we face while
translating poetry?
This is probably the most important challenge that literary translators have to
deal with when translating a poem. Most of the time, it is not a question of the
professional’s inability to understand the factual meaning of a word but thethe
difficulty of understanding the exact meaning that the poet gave to that word,difficulty of understanding the exact meaning that the poet gave to that word,
especially when there’s a variety of equivalentsespecially when there’s a variety of equivalents in the target language that the
translator can choose from.
This means that the translator should pay close attention tothe translator should pay close attention to
the words he/she chooses.the words he/she chooses.
Word meaning
Does the poet use a word in its denotative or connotative meaning? What imagery do
those words create? How can they be accurately and artfully expressed in the target
language? What stylistic effect do they create? What figures of speech (hyperbole,
metonomy, synechdoche, etc) are used?

15. DIY #1DIY #1Alliteration
1) Where is it?
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
'Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, Lenore!
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, Lenore!-
Merely this, and nothing more.
(The Raven, E.A. Poe)
Weak & weary; nodded, nearly napping;
deep into that darkness; doubting,
dreaming dreams; dared to dream; was
the whispered word

16. DIY #2DIY #2Synonyms
Translate + provide as many
synonyms (already in Polish) as
possible
+which one is the closest (in the
Raven's context)
door
drzwi, wrota, drzwiczki (...)
mutter
mamrotać, mruczeć,
szemrać, przebąkiwać,
bąkać, wymamrotać,
bełkotać, mruknąć,
odbąknąć, wybełkotać,
odburknąć, wybąkać,
bąknąć, zamruczeć,
wymruczeć, mruczeć pod
nosem, burczeć (...)
dreary
monotonny, senny, nudny,
posępny, drętwy, straszny,
mroczny, smutny(...)
ponder
rozmyślać, rozważać,
zastanawiać się, dumać,
przemyśliwać, zastanawiać,
namyślać się, kontemplować,
podumać, rozpamiętywać,
medytować, myśleć (...)
weary
znużony, zmęczony,
utrudzony,znudzony,
stęskniony (...)
dreary, ponder, weary, napping,
tapping, chamber, door, mutter,
napping
drzemiąc, przysypiając (...)
tapping
stukać, drapać, skrobać, pukać
(...)
chamber
izba, komora, pokój, komnata,
sala, kancelaria, gabinet,
komórka, komnatka (...)

17. DIY #3DIY #3Rhymes
1) How are the rhymes
organised?
2) Translate
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
'Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more.
(The Raven, E.A. Poe)
W głuchą północ, w snów tumanie, gdy
znużyło mnie dumanie
Nad księgami zapomnianej magii, znanej w
dawnych dniach,
Chyląc głowę nad foliałem, niespodzianie
usłyszałem
Chrobot, jakby ktoś nieśmiałym palcem
skrobał znak na drzwiach.
Gość, mruknąłem, tym sygnałem daje znać,
że stanie w drzwiach:
Skąd ten zimny pot i strach?
(Stanisław Barańczak)
Raz – posępna północ była – gdym, znużony i
bez siły,
Nad dziwnością obyczajów dumał, tych sprzed lat
tysięcy,
Kiedym drzemał ( spać się chciało ), nagle coś w
drzwi zastukało,
Jakby pukał ktoś nieśmiało, delikatne czyjeś ręce.
To gość jakiś snadź – mruknąłem – puka, czyż mu
czas poświęcę?
Tylko tyle i nic więcej.
(Władysław Jerzy Kasiński)
ABCBBB

18. DIY #4DIY #4Word choice
A stand of people
by an open
grave underneath
the heavy leaves
celebrates
the cut and fill
for the new road
where
an old man
on his knees
reaps a basket-
full of
matted grasses for
His goats
ludzie stojący
nad otwartą
mogiłą pod
ciężkimi liśćmi
czczą
żniwo
na nową drogę
tam gdzie
starzec
klęcząc
żnie i na-
pełnia koszyk
skołtunioną trawą
dla swoich kóz
Tanslate trying to render the
original meaning* as closely
as possible
*Remember about the semantic
prosody!Autumn by W.C. Williams
(przełożył Andrzej Szuba)

20. DIY #5DIY #5Word choice
Znów to zrobiłam
Co dziesięć lat
Udaje mi się -
Żywy cud, skóra lśni się
Jak hitlerowski abażur,
Prawa stopa
Przycisk,
Twarz bez rysów, żydowskie
Cienkie płótno.
Wrogu mój
Zedrzyj sobie ze mnie ręcznik.
Czyżbym wzbudzała strach?
I have done it again.
One year in every ten
I manage it-
A sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.
Peel off the napkin
O my enemy.
Do I terrify?-
Tanslate trying to render the
original meaning* as closely
as possible
*make note that it's a backtranslation
taskLady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath
(przełożyła Ewa Fiszer)

21. DIY #6DIY #6Form
Tanslate trying to retain the
form, letter count, and the
meaning
Untitled, Unknown
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wtem na zegarek zerkam
wiem się.

22. To conclude...To conclude...
As it can be appreciated, poem translation is an artpoem translation is an art
in itselfin itself.
Language professionals devoted to working on these
literary pieces should definitely become poets themselvesshould definitely become poets themselves
in order to provide readers with the best translated
version possible.

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