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Section 2. Cultural studies
Shahla Badir Naghiyeva, Correspondence: Department of Literature of the Foreign Countries, Azerbaijan University of Languages, Baku, Azerbaijan E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Maintenance of meaning and form in poetry translation
Abstract: The article has been written on the author's research experience as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program winner in collaboration with the US poet-translators of the East Carolina University and George Mason University and collaboration with Alison Mandaville, a poet translator, Visiting Fulbright Scholar hosted by the Department of Literature of the Foreign Countries ofAzerbaijan University of Languages. Possibility of keeping form and meaning of a poem in translation from Azerbaijani into English and vice versa is focused on in this article.
Though dialectical combination of the meaning and form of poetry in translation is required and when deep meaning and philosophical-poetical content is expressesed with perfect form its power of influence is more emphatic specifity of the Eastern poetry differing from the other poetries with richness and colourfulness makes it inevitable to give some losses in translation of poetry. Translators give preference to giving some sacrifice from form of the poem in case strictly adhering the meaning of the poem.
Keywords: Form, meaning, richness, colourfulness, Eastern poetry.
Throughout history peoples of the world have had There is much to be mentioned about the role of transla-
great interest to other peoples' lifestyle, art and culture. The tion of literature of the peoples into the languages of the other
role of translation is undeniable in establishing ties among the cultures.
Hence, the translator will have to bridge the gap, small or large, between two cultures. Culture is to be understood not only in the narrower sense of man's advanced intellectual development as reflected in the arts, but also in the broader anthropological sense of all socially conditioned aspects of human life, as a totality of knowledge, proficiency and perception. Culture has thus to do with common factual knowledge, usually including political institutions, education, history and current affairs as well as religion and customs [7, 27].
Since translation is recognized as an act of culture-specific communication, a translator is the 'first reader' of the other culture as is shown in the foreign language text and he is expected to present the other in a primary process. It should be also mentioned that for the translator learning to translate means 'learning to read', i. e. to produce meanings which are acceptable for the cultural community the reader belongs to [11, 128].
According to Tytler "Translation should give complete transcript of ideas of the original work" [10] I it always possible?
Unlike translators of other works, a translator of a literary text should be self-expressive. He should leave traces of his own character just as an artist leaves his own impressions in his paintings. To this effect, the literary text translator has a high degree of freedom in transferring a text from one language into another. [9, 107].
nations to benefit from one another's literary world.
Poetry being the leading branch of literature of any nation expresses the feelings, emotions, imaginations of the poet on the given topic in a romantic way specific to each culture and language. So translation of poetry requires special talent of a poet from the translator to express the poet's product appropriately in the target language.
Poetry is an art, and chief of the fine arts; the easiest to dabble in, the hardest to reach true perfection [1].
The word poetry comes from the Greek word "poesie" meaning "make". Different from its meaning acquire today it was used to all literary genres that were considered to be product of the imagination. Poetry created by ordering meter, rythm, rhyme of every language to reflect the spirit and lifestyle of every nation is great moral wealth belonging to them. How about changes taking place in translation of poetry having such specific features into the world languages? Is it possible to keep all its pecuilarities while translating? Undoubtedly, no. Should meaning of a poem be sacrificed to its form, or vice versa in translation?
The answer to all these question maybe the same or a bit different due to the characteristic features of every language. Especially translators should be careful when translating Eastern poetry differing from the other poetries with richness and colourfulness. Because beginning from the ancient times the Eastern poets have paid special attention to the form of the poems along with the depth of the meaning and content, in other words, they felt the dialectical combination
of the meaning and form and did their best to reflect it in their works.
When deep meaning and philosophical-poetical content is expressesed with perfect form its power of influence is more emphatic. It is believed that verse strategy is close to the original form of the text than that of prose. Verse strategy gives us an opportunity to enjoy and experience figures of speech [1]. Beauty of the poetic form has had special importance in the Eastern poetry, Azerbaijani poetry as well and this feature has always been focused on by the translators translating our poetry intp English. The samples translated into English from Azerbaijani poetry are the best sources to put light on the above-mentioned questions. Below is given a part from the poem entitled "Pride" written in free verse form by Lang-stone Hughes translated into Azerbaijani by Vahid Arabov in which a-fourteen-line poem have been given in 28 lines each 6 stanzas consisting of four lines and the last two of 5 lines:
Let all who will
Eat quietly the bread of shame
I cannot!
Without complaining loud and long Tasting bitterness in my long throat? And feeling to my very soul? It's wrong!
For honest work You prefer my poor pay. For honest dreams, Your spit is on my face! And so my fist is clenched Today
To strike your face!
V. Srabin tarcumasi:
Qoy har kas yeyir, yesin Asan, minnatli gorak Bela haram gorayin Axiri nadir goran?
insanin varligina Zahardir haram gorak. Ki§i olan heg zaman Onu yemasin garak.
Ey konul matin dayan! Bil ki, o yemak deyil. San bir parga gorakgun, Na algal, na da ayil.
Halal duz-gorak ugun Azpul verin siz mana. Ancaq minnat vurmayin, Demayin bir soz mana.
Sansa ozga malindan Ozuna tac qurmusan, Manim qanimi igmi§, Bu gunsa qudurmusan.
Milyonlarin puludur, Ozuna xarcladiyin. Minlarin goz ya§idir, §arab kimi igdiyin.
Mansa yavan gorakla, Dolanaram, bil ancaq Bu gun yumruqlarimi Uda bilmayacaksan, Bogazinda qalacaq! [6]
Regarding the maintenance of meaning the translator's feeling of the poem on its own prevailed over the real meaning of the poem. Consequently, the poet's rebellion against eating bread not earned with labour has not been expressed properly.
Even the title of poem is "Pride (Qurur)" in Azerbaijani language has been translated as "iftixar" which does not express the content of the poem.
In case the poem written in free verse form in original is possibly translated into Azerbaijani language rich with literary devices in syllabic verse form, it should not be regarded as distortion in translation. But making unnecessary additions to the original by changing structure in translation is betrayal from the side of translator.
On the contrary, the more clearly and accurately the meaning in the original is expressed in translation the more we can talk about the success of the translator.
According to E. Etkinds "accurate translation" is rarely possible. Poetry translation is not possible without losses and changes... The main thing in poetry translation is that the translator should be well-aware of the sacrifices he/she gives in certain cases [2].
The translation is considered to be unsuccessful if the form of the poem is changed for the sake of rhyme and express the meaning of the original indirectly.
We can offer another translation version of the poem we have talked about:
i§tahla yeyirsa haram gorayi Yeyanlar qoy yesin, Man bacarmaram.
Tale acisini daddim har zaman Haqsizliq goranda etmadim usyan Urak da dark edir bu haqiqati Olanlar hamisi yanli§liq, yalan
Halal amayimin dayarini san Heg vaxt acgoz agam, gora bilmazsan. §irin xayallarim saf, tamiz ikan Tupurub onlara laka saldin san
San indi hazir ol, novba manimdir, Guclu yumruqlarim ustuna galir. (translated by the author)
The meaning of the original has been maintained on one hand, the form has had considerably less loss compared to the above-shown translation of the poem.
Another poem by Langstone Hughes translated by V. Arabov has been given in the same book with the above-mentioned poem. Different from translation of the poem "Pride" translation of the following poem is much more successful in terms of maintaining the spirit of the poet and less has been sacrificed in both- meaning and form of the poem:
It was long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun, —
My dream.
Translation: U§aq idim, bilmirdim, Xayal nadir, arzu na? Arzum guna§la birga Boylanirdi uzuma. [6]
While translating poems by the outstanding figure of the British poetry W. Blake with poetry rich and deep philosophically translators should be careful to keep harmony of form and content, and feel the spirit of the poet. Anyway, giving some loss from the original in translation for the sake of presenting the philosophy expressed in the poem is inevitable.
Below is an example to support this view: Pity would be no more, If we did not make somebody Poor: And Mercy no more could be, If all were as happy as we.
Translation:
Kasiblar olmasa dunyada agar, Taassuf hissi da heg yaranmazdi. Hami dogulsaydi xa§baxt, baxtavar indi na marhamat, na rahm vardi. [12]
Fidelity of the translator in keeping the form and meaning of the original is obviously seen. In translation of another poem entitled " Infant Sorrow" (Korpa kadari) by the poet the translator had to make some changes in the form of poet for the sake of maintaining the meaning:
My mother groaned, my father wept, Into the dangerous world I leapt; Helpless, naked, piping loud, Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
Struggling in my father's hands, Striving against my swaddling bands, Bound and weary, I thought best To sulk upon my mother's breast.
Translation:
Atam qussalandi, inladi anam Bu mudhi§ dunyaya can atdigim an. Qi§qira-qi§qira, aciz va uryan, Sanki buludlari yarirdi §eytan,
Ata qollarinda usyan eyladim, Qrpinib ozuma yuva diladim. Duydum ki, alami burusa da nur 9n i§iqlu dunyam ana qoynudur [12]
The poem reflects the process how a child is born. Translation of the second stanza of the poem has been given a bit differently from the original. In the lines
Bound and weary, I thought best To sulk upon my mother's breast the poet thinks that the best thing for him is sulking upon his mother's breast. Translator has expressed this meaning this way: though the world is full of light the most peaceful and light shelter for the baby is mother's breast which makes the poem more emphatic.
Translator should never forget that "form of the poem acquires some meaning when it serves to deliver the content" [4, 137].
L. A. Bunin dealt with keeping adequacy in the following way: "When translating I did my best to be close to the author's text, keep simplicity of the language, comparisons and epithets, repetition of the words, even the number of lines and their rowing. But it was not so easy. " [5, 41-42].
Difference is never pure, no more so in translation, and for the notion of translation we would have to substitute a notion of transformation: a regulated transformation of one language by another, of one text by another. We will never have, and in fact have never had, to do with some 'transport' of pure signifieds from one language to another, or within one and the same language, that the signifying instrument would leave virgin and untouched [3, 4].
To sum up, notwithstanding the fact that form of a poem is as important as the meaning of it, some loss is inevitable in form of the poem rather than the meaning which shoud strictly be maintained in translating poetry from Azerbaijani into English.
References:
1. Stedman E. S., http://www.quotes.net/quote/39365
2. Еткинд E. Г. Поезия и перевод//Мастерство перевода М-Л.: 1963.
3. Jacques Derrida (1981: 4, Derrida, J. (1981) Positions, trans. Alan Bass. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
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5. Мастерство перевода. М.1962, 1963, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1996. S. 41-42.
6. "Poetik tarcümalar", Xazar Universitasi, 2006.
7. STUDIES ABOUT LANGUAGES. 2002. NO. 3 Cultural Issues in Translation Anna Ginter, p. 27, 31 p.
8. Shiyab Said M., A Textbook of Translation. Theoretical and practical implications P. 107, 191 p.
9. Shiyab Said M., A Textbook of Translation.Theoretical and practical implications, Antwerpen: Garant; London, 2006. P. 111, 191 p.
10. TytlerAlexander Fraser, Essay on the Principles of Translation, 1979, London: J. M. Dent, DOI: l0.l075/hl.6.2.09ste
11. Wolf, M. (1997). Translation as a process of power: Aspects of cultural anthropology in translation, in: Snell-Hornby, M. Jettmarova, Z. Kaindl, K. (ed.. Translation as Intercultural Communication, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia. p. 128.
12. www.translit.az
