Imagery in Translation. Live in yourself. There is a whole

Live in yourself. There is a whole

Deep world of being in your soul —

Of thought on strange enchanted thought,

And blinded by the daylight glare,

Their song would cease. Oh, hush! Oh, hear!

Translated by Irina Zheleznova:

Seal thou thy lips, to none apart

The thoughts and dreams that fill thy heart.

There they'll flare up, there sjnk and die

As do the stars up in the sky

When o'er the earth night's shadows creep...

Take joy in them — and silent keep.

No secret of the soul begot

With others canst thou share, for what

Are thoughts, once voiced, but common lies.

Churn up a stream, and silt will rise

And darken it... Drink, drink thou deep

Of waters clear — and silent keep.

Live in the world of self— thy soul Contains of magic thought a whole Bright universe... The noise of day And daylight are its foes... Easy To banish these; if joy thou'd reap, Hear thy heart's song — and silent keep!

EXERCISES FOR COMPARISON

• Read more about Fyodor Tutchev and more of his poetry.

• Compare this poem with other poetical works by Tutchev.

• Analyse the metrical and rhythmical pattern of the poem,
its stanza pattern and the rhyme scheme.

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________ Практикум по художественному переводу____

• Analyse the stylistic features of the Russian text to re­
construct its imagery.

• Identify symbolic elements in the poem and determine
their role in the general impression produced by the text.

• Leo Tolstoy rated this poem among the best Russian po­
etry of his choice and marked it with the note «Глубина!» If you
agree with him, give your own reasons.

• In what way does this poem differ from the English poet­
ic tradition?

• Translate this poem into English word for word.

• Reconstruct a metrical-rhythmical basis for the English
version of the text.

• Choose rhymes for the English version.

• Connect the translated text, the metrical basis and the
rhyme scheme into one whole text.

• Analyse the results, identifying the losses or extra ele­
ments, if any, in the translated text.

• Work on polishing the style of the English version.

• Compare your translation with the three English variants.
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