Form and Content in Translation of Poetry

Translation of poetry is regarded to be more difficult than other types of translation. While prose texts concentrate on meaning, poetry texts’ concentration is on form through which the intended meaning is transferred into the reader. The very existing conflict between form and content makes the act of literary translation a challenging task in which a poetry translator’s main concern is whether to prefer the form over the content or vice versa. In the act of translation, a perfect and ideal translation of poetry seems to be practically questionable, and poetry is what gets lost while rendering into the target language. A number of strategies have been proposed to render a piece of poetry into the receptor language, yet they either focus on form or content. Consequently, if it is accepted that translating poetry is a matter of degree or a matter of relativity, the absolute impossibility of poetry translation can be rejected depending highly on the translator’s creativity and talent.

Keywords:

Translation , Poetry , Content , Form , Translation Strategies