Feasibility Of Translating Poetry

Dr. K. Hema, Assistant Professor of English, Sadakathullah Appa College, Tirunelveli-627011

E mail: hemaselvan11@tjells.com
Poetry as a literary genre is an arrangement of words in patterns of sound and meaning. Poems usually combine patterns of rhythm with images to create beautiful or powerful impressions. Poetry shapes ideas, thoughts and feelings in special ways. A poet writes about a particular thing or experience, because his deep perception of it has strongly moved him to give it a verbal expression. It is his own imaginative, emotional or intellectual apprehension of facts and experiences that a poet tries to express. He uses the lexis and various syntactic and stylistic features inherent in his own language. Naturally, the schemes present themselves unbidden. But when a translator tries to translate a poem, it shows that he is stimulated by the original work so much that he experiences a deep affinity for the work which in turn prompts him to create a version of that experience in his own language. Thus he shares the original authors and his readers realm of discourse only indirectly. Translation is thus a very complex process and in fact what makes translation of poetry so unique is the simultaneous importance given to the form and substance of poetry. The success of translation of poetry lies in the rendering of these two elements as closely as possible to the Source Language (hereafter SL). Various writers hold different opinions regarding the feasibility of translating poetry. To Robert Frost, poetry itself is that which is lost in translation. Some poems by their very nature have an in-built resistance to translation. Also strictly personal or language-based poem allows no translation and often requires no translation. Schopenhauer, a German philosopher, emphatically says: Poems cannot be translated: they can only be transposed, and that is always awkward (92). On the other hand, the poet-translator Paz disagrees with such views and says that the best poems in every Western Language are translations and many of those translations were written by great poets (156). Paz further says that the good translator of poetry is a translator who is also a poet-like Arthur Waley- or a poet who is also good translator-like Nirval when he translated the first faust (158). The translator of poetry has to be a person who is sensitive to the nuances of form and feeling in poetry. A prose translation of poetry aims at the meaning and preservation of the style and rhythm of the SL more than the rhyme and metre, for the latter is treated as of having lesser importance than the former. Even in ordinary poems the length and arrangement of lines are important. Alan Maley and Alan Duff, noted linguists have pointed out in their book The Inward Ear that a poem becomes a poem by being called a poem and by being set out typographically in a certain way (Nair 52). When a poem is translated, the sound of the poem and the internal and external perceptions of its acoustic beauty and the emotions

attached to them are changed. The sound effect a poem produces is very important and that is why it makes use of such techniques as rhythm, rhyme, meter, alliteration, assonance, repetition, refrain etc. In translation it is quite difficult to reproduce any of these peculiarities into another language. Again words with their bases, prefixes, suffixes, stress, patterns of sense and their connotations are changed in translation. During translation it is difficult or rather impossible to find Target Language (hereafter TL) equivalents which have all the meanings or which carry all the implications of an SL word. Furthermore, the relationship between words, the arrangement of words in sentences etc. are changed in translation. Ideas can be translated from language to language, but poetry is the idea touched with the magic of phrase and incantatory music. A competent translator can, however play the good mediator between the poet and the reader, and surpassing the mere prose of statement can give imitations of the poets sovereign utterance. A study has been undertaken in this paper to analyse the issues a translator faces and the strategies he employs while translating a poem. To take a concrete case, two poems from Kalki R. Krishnamurthys celebrated Tamil historical novel Ponniyin Selvan and their English translation by Vijayalakshmi Quershi have been analyzed elaborately. Though the novel as such has been translated by Mr.C.V. Karthik Narayanan, the translation of poems has been done by Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Quershi. Vandithevan reaches Kodikarai to sail to Sri Lanka. Since Kodikarai and its significant deity Kuzhagar play a prominent role in the story, the special features and significance of the deity are described vividly. To state the antiquity of the temple, the novelist quotes a poem composed on this deity by Sundaramurhty Nayanar two centuries ago. The poem thus belongs to a period remote in time - 8th century. Here Sundaramurthy Nayanar feels pity for Lord Kuzhagar, who is located alone in Kodikarai near the sea. fbjha;f; flw;fhw;W te;njw;wf; fiuNky; FbjhdaNy ,Ue;jhw; Fw;wkhNkh? nfhbNad; fz;fs; fz;ld Nfhbf; FofPh; mbNfs; ckf;fhh; Jizahf ,Ue;jPNu? kj;jk; kyp#o; kiwf;fhljd; nwd;ghy; gf;jh; gyh; ghltpUe;j gukh? nfhj;jhh; nghopy; #o;jUNfhbf; Fofh vj;jhw; wdpNa apUe;jha;? vk;gpuhNd? It is imperative for the translator of the old classics to be aware of the large amount of information that might be placed into the small frame of the words and phrases. He must be familiar with the referential systems which may not mean anything to the contemporary reader. To facilitate a better and smooth reading, an updated language may be used instead of a register similar to the one used in the original poem. The TL poem reads as below:

Is it right that this sinner saw You, alone, on this shore Nipped by sea windsKuzhagar of Kodi! Who keeps you company here? Such are the words from the throng of devotees That praise you, the Lord Eternal That quarry of knowledgeFenced by the double poison of flower and snake Fenced now by tree and jungle Why, my lord, are you at Kodi, Alone? The SL poem is of eight lines whereas the TL poem is of thirteen lines. Here the translator has to resort to renundancy, stretching the length of the poem to uncoil the magical web of meaning packed in the SL phrases. During this process, implicit information is made explicit. All the associations, connotations and undercurrents of sentiments encapsulated in the single word param (gukh) are diluted and stretched into three words the Lord Eternal. Again the single line baktar palar pavirunta param? (gf;jh; gyh; ghltpUe;j gukh?) is rendered in three lines in the TL: Such are the words: From the throng of devotees That praise you, the Lord Eternal. The TL text, which is far deviated from the original in form, is bereft of beauty, brevity and poetry that characterizes the SL poem. Moreover, the first letter of the 1st, 2nd and 4th words in the same line baktar palar pavirunta param! (gf;jh; gyh; ghltpUe;j gukh) is alike and this pattern in the SL grammar is k katuvi mai (fPo; fJtha; Nkhid). The rhyming pattern inherent in this line along with the long vowel m (kh= k;+M) in the vocative param (gukh) is dynamic and unifying in conveying the divine fact that Lord Kuzhagar is being glorified and venerated by his devotees. This crispness of form could hardly be retained in the translated version. In the SL poem, the pun on the word ki (Nfhb) is to be noticed. It refers to both the short version of the name of the place Kodikarai and the literal meaning of the word ki the end. The SL term thus suggests two meanings Kuzhagar of Kodikarai and Kuzhagar being located at the far end. The SL readers may relish the pun inherent in the term ki of which

the TL readers are ignorant. Thus some of the finer aspects of the original are lost during the process of translation. Translation need not be just a mere translation, it can also be a transcreation. The final term in the TL poem Alone placed separately at the bottom enforces the meaning and gives a force and effect to the theme of the poem - lord Kuzhagar being alone at the seashore at Kodikarai. The poets total vision must find adequate expression in the translated version. The translator can, therefore, significantly alter the text in order to provide the reader with a text that conforms to the stylistic and idiomatic norms of the TL. Every poet follows certain patterns of rhyme, metre and other modes inherent in his own language. In the SL poem, the second letter of first words in each line in the first stanza kai(fb), kui(Fb), koi (nfhb) and ai (mb) is uniform. This kind of similarity in the SL grammar is called aimai (mbNkhid). Also in the very first line of the SL poem, the initial letter in the 1st, 2nd and 4th words is alike: kaiti kaarku vanteak karaiml fbjha; flw;fhw;W te;njw;wf; fiuNky;. This pattern in the SL grammar is called k katuvi mai (fPo; fJtha; Nkhid). Again in the fist line of the second stanza, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd words begin with the same letter ma(k). This kind of uniformity in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd words in a line is kai katuvi mai ($io fJtha; Nkhid). Also in the initial words of the last two lines in the second stanza kottr (nfhj;jhh;) and ettr (vj;jhh;), the second letter is identical and this again is aimnai (mbNkhid). This sort of regular rhythm fully matches with the theme. Yet none of these measures is reproduced in the translation, as it is impossible to do so. Both in Tamil and English, there are several rhymes. Still it is not easy to reproduce the rhymes of one language exactly in the other, retaining the meaning of the words. In many instances, the rhythm also is lost in translation while the meaning is steadfastly adhered to. Thus, extracting the essential core of a word and recreating it in the TL according to the norms pertaining to that language so as to create the same atmosphere and effect is the ideal way. Another example from the same novel will effectively project the principles and procedures adopted in the task and will also highlight the successful and unsuccessful areas in the translation of a poem. This Saivite hymn from Devaram was written by Sundaramurthy Nayanar on Lord Siva of the village of Mazhapadi. When Sundaramurthy Nayanar was visiting the Siva temples in the Chozha Kingdom and composing songs on them, he had to cross a river. When he had crossed it, he intuited that a voice was asking him if he had forgotten him. Startled, he realized that it was the Lord who was beckoning him. He enquired from his disciples whether there was a Siva temple in the neighbourhood and got the reply that there was one in the village of Mazhapadi, hidden by konnai trees. Sundaramurthy

Nayanar went there immediately. He had a vision of the Lord, and transported by devotion, lost himself in the following song. nghd;dhh; NkdpaNd Gypj; Njhiy miuf;firj;J kpd;dhh; nrQ;rilNky; kpsph; nfhd;iw mzpe;jtNd! kd;Nd khkhzpNa> koghbAs; khzpf;fNk! vd;Nd cd;iday;yhy; ,dp ahiu epidf;NfNd? The translated version of the poem is given below O golden hued! The tiger-skin your only garment A laburnum cluster adorns Your red matted hair Set off by a golden sickle moon My king! My Jewel! The great Jewel of Mazhapadi Whom else will I think about? This song plays a great role in promoting the story of the novel Ponniyin Selvan. In the beginning of the novel, Vandiyathevan sees the young Saivite devotee Sendhan Amudhan signing this song as he is plucking flowers from his garden, in front of his house for his flower-offering to Lord Siva. Later when Vandiyathevan is in Pazhuvettarayars underground prison, he identifies Sendhan Amuthan, who sings this song from the adjacent cell. Again Poonkuzhali identifies Sendhan Amuthan through this song when she is in an important task of safeguarding the sick prince Arulmozhivarman from magician Ravidasan in the pitch dark in Kodikarai. The essence of this song and the devotion that flows from each word, phrase and line significantly evoke a divine atmosphere that epitomizes Sendhan Amuthans character. So it is imperative for the translator to invoke the same divinity in the TL readers through the translation of this song. In the very first line - por miya (nghd;dhh; NkdpaNd), the predominance of the liquid consonant (d;) is euphonious. Again the active voice that characterizes the next three lines the Lord wearing the tiger-skin at the waist and konnai flowers (laburnum) at the red-matted hair is an assertion of his supremacy and imposing stature, whereas the impersonal style in the TL text does not assert the sovereignty of the Lord, even though the information is duly emphasized. Thus both the texts have different communicative effects.

In ma mmaiy (kd;Nd khkzpNa) the adjacent placing of the short ma(k) in ma (kd;Nd) and the long m (kh) in mmaiy (khkzpNa) gives a gradual rise in tone and enhances the omnipotence and greatness of the All-Powerful Lord. Moreover in the SL, m (kh) means the great or large in size. The words and their arrangement determine the style. Here the meaning as well as the tone coincides with each other and is highly euphonic and suggestive. This effect is reduced in the TL. Still the repetition of the possessive adjective my emphasizes his intimacy and leaning towards the Lord and acts as a compensatory mechanism. In the second line of the SL poem, the adjective miir (kpsph;) radiant qualifies the brightness and beauty of the flower that the Lord wears on his hair. This again is missing in the TL text. Again the specific gem mikkam (khzpf;fk;) carbuncle is rendered in a generic way as the great jewel. In the SL culture carbuncle is considered as the finest of all the nine gems. This implicit significance is brought out explicitly in the TL text as The Great Jewel. Repetition of speech sounds in any language is identified by various technical terms. In the SL poem, the second letter of the first words of the first two lines- por (nghd;dhh;) and mir (kpd;dhh;) is alike and this identity in the SL grammar is aimnai (mbNkhid). This same pattern characterizes the second stanza where ma (kd;Nd) and e (vd;Nd) are similar. But none of these measures could be retained in translation as both Tamil and English are linguistically far apart. This study abundantly proves that producing an adequate translation of any poem into another language is rather difficult for a translator has to follow the subtleties, the packed allusive turns, the unexpected suggestiveness and oblique modes of rendering them in a totally different language. Also adequate translation includes phonic, lexical and syntactic components, language varieties, figures of rhetoric, narrative and poetic structures, elements of text convention, stylistic aspects, thematic elements etc. All these language varieties test the potentiality of the translator. And, even if one succeeds in producing an adequate translation, it may not create the desired effect in the target reader as language is a polysystem (Hermans 7). In the SL system, phenomena such as alliteration, rhyme, metre etc. may have a particular value. As language systems differ from one another very widely, it cannot be said that if poetic features are reproduced superficially in an identical manner in two languages, their value positions will be similar. In a vast majority of cases it may become a totally different phenomenon. In this connection, it has to be remembered that a translated work always remains the product of the combined perceptions of both the poet and the translator. A translator as long as he has some consideration for the work he is undertaking, will be speaking for himself as

well as the writer he is translating. Thus he will be at the same time withdrawing into his own subjectively as well as moving out to identify himself with the author. Translation is thus a very complex process and a translated text has to be evaluated by its acceptability and its relative function in the target culture. As far as the poetic schemes are concerned, the translator should try to make up for the loss with what is available in the TL.

Works Cited
Hermans. Translation Studies and a New Paradigm, The Manipulation of Literature ed., Theo Hermans Kent: Croom Helm Ltd, 1983 Krishnamoorthy, Kalki R.. Ponniyin Selvan 13th ed. 5. Vols. Chennai: Vanathi Pathipagam, 2005. Krishnamoorthy, Kalki R.. Ponniyin Selvan 1999-2003, 5. Vols. Trans. C.V. Karthik Narayanan. Ed. Mini Krishnan, Chennai : Macmillan, 2005. Nair, Shreedevi K. Aspects of Translation. New Delhi: Creative Books, 1996. Paz, Octavio. Translation and Letters on Translation, ed. Reuben Brower. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Steiner T.R. English Translation Theory 1950-1800. Assen and Amsterdam: Von Gorcu, 1975.

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