Description
Shaping disillusionment in love poetry translation (Eleni Sichidi)
Love poetry has been translated systematically and the question arises whether the implications following from a source version survive in target versions and how. The research aims at highlighting ways of shaping disillusionment in a love poem (1925) by Russian lyric poet Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895-1925), which has been translated into Greek (2015) and English (2018, 2020, 2021). The analyst’s view on how disillusionment is shaped in target versions of the poem is followed by a questionnaire (addressing 15 respondents) enquiring about the relational dynamics the poet seems to develop with the beloved, which differentiates target versions. Questionnaire results seem to confirm the initial findings on the implications the target versions generate. Results show that suffering and disillusionment are shaped differently in the four versions pertaining to the type of relationship the poet lover assumes with the beloved. They also reveal a different perception of what love is. The significance of the research lies in that it utilizes im/politeness theory to account for the relational dynamics between lovers which seem to be portrayed differently in the target versions translations and may be undercover in the source text. Hence, love poetry translators should be made aware of the psycho-social implications they allow through target options.
