XIV. Literary Translation

A language, as it is generally known, is the most important means of human communication with which people can exchange their thoughts and gain the mutual understanding. The process of communication can be accomplished in two ways: verbal and written ones.

If talkers master the same language, the communication is done directly, however, when people master different languages the direct intercourse becomes already impossible. In this case, translation, which many researchers determine as passing thoughts expressed in one language by means of the other one, comes for help. Consequently, translation is an important auxiliary mean providing implementation of communicative language function when people express their thoughts in different languages.

What does it mean to translate? It seems to be very simple to execute, as what a translator must do is to render the content of the source text by the words of the target language and to form correct sentences at the same time. But this approach to translation can lead to a very curious situation. For example, a student translated the Latin sentence «spiritus quidem promptus est, caro autem infirma» into Ukrainian («the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak» in English) as «cпирт гарний, а м’ясо протухло». In fact, this evangelic saying should be translated as «Дух бодрий, немічна плоть». Student’s variant is correct in the sense that each of words can be translated in the saying and the sentence turned to be formed syntactically right. But the meaning of the source language text is completely lost in the target language text.

Is it possible to pass completely and quite faithfully the thoughts, expressed in the source language text by means of the target language? There are two main scientific opposed opinions related to this question.

According to «the Theory of Untranslatablity», the faithful and complete translation form one language into the other one is impossible in consequence of considerable divergences of expressive devices of the different languages. Translation is a weak and imperfect reflection of a source language text that gives very remote idea and concept about it.

The other point of view is that any developed national language is the fully sufficient means of communication for the faithful passing of the thoughts expressed in the other language. The translation practice proves that any work of art can be faithfully translated into native language with saving all the stylistic and other peculiarities that are inherent to the given author.

Literary translation is a variety of translation that pass thoughts of the source language text in the form of correct literary native language and causes a great number of disagreements in a scientific environment, as some researchers consider that the best translations must not be executed by means of lexical and syntactic correspondences, but by creative research of artistic correlations in relation to which linguistic correspondences play inferior role.

The other scientists generally define each translation, including literary one, as the recreation of the work of art created in one language by means of the other language. Accordingly, the question of exactness and faithfulness of the literary translation appears.

Literary style is probably the most completely described from all the rest of functional styles. At the same time, it is scarcely possible to conclude that it is the most widely studied one. The answer is that literary style is the most active, creatively developed from all the styles. Moreover, a novelty and unusualness of expression becomes the condition of successful communication within the framework of this functional style.

In spite of the limited frames of themes that are touched in the literary texts (a life of a man, an internal world of a character etc.), the literal devices used for their revealing are unlimitedly varied. At the same time every translator aspires to rising above the pen-mates and attracting the attention of the readers.

Perhaps, the brightest distinguishing feature of the literary text is the extraordinarily active use of trops and figures of speech. Saying about representativeness of a literary text translation, it is necessary to mark out that the quantity of its criteria increases noticeably. A translator must meet the greater number of requirements to create a text at most completely representing the source language text in a foreign culture. Among such the criteria, of course, it is necessary to name saving of a plenty of trops and figures of speech as an important constituent of literary stylistics of that or the other work of art. Translation must give an idea of the epoch the source language text was created in.

A translator not only needs knowledge but special skills as well. A writer often plays with words, and this game is not simply to recreate. For example, an English joke built on a pun «A man comes to funerals and asks: I’m late? And he hears in reply: Not you, sir. She is». The English word «late» means «пізній» and «покійний». A character asks: «Я запізнився?» And he hears in reply: «Ні, покійник не ви сер, а вона». The pun is absent in Ukrainian. A translator finds a way out with such variant of translation «Все скінчилося? – Не для вас, сер. Для неї».

Such language puns lie in wait for a translator. It is especially difficult to pass speech cast of minds of characters. However, it is easy enough to imagine how an old-timer gentleman or a whimsical maiden can speak when translating into the target language. It is much more difficult to pass the speech of Irish peasants in Ukrainian or Ukrainian slang in English. The losses are inevitable in the target language text and the bright language colouring has to be willy-nilly damped down. Probably, it is the reason of why some folklore, dialectal and slangy elements of a language are acknowledged to be quite untranslatable.

The linguistic principle of translation supposes mainly the recreation of formal structure of the source language text. The proclamation of linguistic principle as a basic one can result in the excessive adherence to the source language text or word for word translation exact in the linguistic relation, but weak in the artistic one. It would be a variety of formalism, when alien linguistic forms are exactly translated and a stylization takes place by the laws of a foreign language. Literal translation can be considered as a fair copy of translation without further literary corrections, when the syntactic structure of a sentence translated can be expressed by the similar devices. However, the coincidence of syntactic devices in two languages is met very rarely. The violation of syntactic norms of Ukrainian language occurs more frequently when word for word translation is accomplished. In such cases the gap between form and content appears, when the thought of an author is clear, but the form of its expression is alien to the native language.

Word for a word translation does not always reproduce the emotional effect of the source language text. Consequently, word for word exactness and literary value turn out to be in permanent contradiction with each other. Indisputably, translation depends on language material. Literary translation cannot exist out of translation of words and word-combinations as well as the whole process of translation must depend on knowledge of laws of both languages and understanding of their rules and correspondences. The observance of linguistic laws is necessary to both the source language text and the target language one. But literary translation is not only research of linguistic correlations.

The technique of translation does not acknowledge modernizations in a text, what is based on the simple logic of equality of impressions. The question does not concern with the philological reliable copy in the target language at the particular time when the source language text was written. Modern translation gives the information about old-style of a text to the reader, and tries to show how old it is with the special devices. The specific character of syntactic structures and peculiarities of trops are attached to the concrete epoch. However, these peculiarities express time indirectly, as at first, they are related to the features of literary traditions of that time, literary directions and genre belonging. Time is directly reflected in the linguistic historical peculiarities of a text, such as lexical, morphological and syntactic archaisms. Translators use them to create an archaic stylization. Stylization is not complete assimilation of the target language to the language of the last epoch, but only marking of a text with archaisms.

It is scarcely possible to list and comment on all the devices of passing literary information in a text. Without meaning a concrete text, all the devices of translation can be referred to dominants of translation. But in reality only the part of them is represented in translation in the way damped down or with the limited number of components of lexical repetition, otherwise the specific of the literary image could not be kept when passing a metaphor.

Each translation, as a creative process, must be marked by individuality of a translator, but the main task is passing distinctive peculiarities of the source language text. A translator must find the best linguistic devices, choose synonyms, the proper literary images etc., for creation of literary and emotional impression that is faithful to the source language text.

Of course, all the elements of form and content cannot be reproduced with exactness. Any translation supposes that some part of the source language text is not recreated and is thrown away, and some part of it is given in a way of different replacements and equivalents.

All the translating decisions when rendering the literary text are adopted taking into account a narrow context and wide context of all works of art. It concerns the choice of variant correspondences and transformations. The cases of outcontextual translation with equivalents that have a single meaning are rare and deal with the lexicon of general vocabulary (the name of animals, plants etc.), and also really existent place-names.

The literary work of art often runs into the considerable obstacles on a way to a reader, if this reader is a transmitter of the other linguistic system, than an author of a text. That’s when the faithful translation is needed.

Thus, translation takes special place in a literary process. Each type of literature uses the definite type of translation. In particular, fiction uses literary translation. Literary translation is one of the most evident displays of interliterary (and, in some extent, intercultural) co-operation. Actually, it is a basic part of national literary process, as it comes as an intermediary between literatures, and it would be impossible to speak about the interliterary process in all its completeness without it. Thus,

Literary translation is the reflection of thoughts and senses of an author of source language prosaic or poetic text by means of the target language and rendering its images in the material of the target language as well.

Literary translation doesn’t deal with communicative function of a language, but with its aesthetic function, as a word appears to be “first or fundamental element” of a literature. It requires the special thoroughness and erudition from a translator. In the literary work of art not only definite events are represented, but aesthetic and philosophical views of its author as well, which either make the well-composed system, or the mixture of fragments of different theories.

Translator must have sufficient knowledge in the science of philosophy, aesthetics, ethnography (as in some works of art the details of way of life of the heroes are described etc.), geography, astronomy, history of arts etc. for translation to be faithfully done. Ideological and figurative structure of the source language text may have become a dead chart in the target language text, if a translator does not imagine the public and social environment in which a work of art has appeared or the reasons which brought it to life or the circumstances owing to which it continues to live in the other environments and in the other ages.

The other problem of literary translation is correlation of a context of an author and a context of a translator. In the literary translation the context of the latter very approaches a context of the first. The criterion of coinciding, or, opposite, divergence of both contexts is the measure of correlation of information of reality and information taken from literature. A writer goes from reality and own perception to the image fixed by words. Thus, if the information of reality prevails, there is a question of an author activity. A translator goes from an existent text and a reality reproduced in imagination through its “second” perception to a new figurative realization of a translation fixed in the text.

In other words, if information of the literary origin prevails, there is a question about the context of a translator. Consequently, literary translation is not conditioned by objective factors only (by a concrete historical literary canon or peculiarities of day-to-day existence etc.), but subjective (by the poetics of a translator) as well.

None of the translations can be absolutely exact, as the linguistic system itself of an accepting literature with its objective information cannot pass the meaning of the source language text perfectly that unavoidably results in the loss of definite volume of the information. The failure may lie with a personality of a translator, who necessarily will fail to take complete information or details of the content of the source language text when decoding it, or with inclination to show or show not all the peculiarities of the source language text.

It is impossible to pull text out from its source language and “re-pot into new soil”. The target language text should be born anew in a new linguistic situation owing to capabilities and talent of a translator. Every linguistic element, using associative relations, affects figurative thinking of a native language speaker and creates concrete and perceptible image. Appropriately, these associative relations are to a great extent ruined when translating the source language text into the target language one on account of linguistic divergences. A translator must take the functions of an author upon himself and repeat the creative process of its creation to fill the text with new associative relations which would cause new images that are peculiar to the given language in order to keep the source language text on living as a literary work of art in the new linguistic environment.

The very essential problem of a literary translation deals with exactness and faithfulness. Which one of these two criteria is more important and whether is it possible to put them together in one translation? Probably, it is impossible for a translator to forget of himself completely in order to obey the individuality of an author of the source language text.

Thus, we may say for sure, the literary work of art is not to be translated “from a sound to sound, from a word to word, from a phrase to phrase etc.” It is impossible to change one component of the source language text and keep the general structure of it. A change of one component necessarily causes the change of all system. An attempt to reproduce all the structural elements will certainly lead to losing harmony of the whole text. Consequently, it is necessary to define which elements in the given text are essential for rendering the whole meaning and to reproduce them with all possible exactness, without paying attention to unimportant ones.

Accordingly, literary translation is a delicate matter, perhaps even compared with jeweller’s art. It is impossible to translate on commonplace pattern, it is of great importance to truly feel a language and use the own Phraseological units or nationally biased lexicon etc.

For better understanding, the practical accomplishment of literary translation may be examined on the base of some examples given below:

«Hang the boy, can’t I never learn anything? Ain’t he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can’t learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what’s coming? He ‘pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it’s all down again and I can’t hit him a lick. I ain’t doing my duty by that boy, and that’s the Lord’s truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I’m a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He’s full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he’s my own dead sister’s boy, poor thing, and I ain’t got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it’s so. He’ll play hookey this evening, and I’ll just be obleeged to make him work, to-morrow, to punish him. It’s mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I’ve GOT to do some of my duty by him, or I’ll be the ruination of the child». Mark Twain «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer».	– Ну й розбишака ж, хай йому абищо! Невже я так-таки нічого не навчуся? Це ж уже вкотре він отак мене дурить. Мабуть, і справді старі дурні найдурніші. Недарма кажуть: старого собаку нових штук не навчиш. Та боже ж ти мій, у цього хлопчиська і витівки щоразу інші, отож не знаєш, чого й сподіватися. І він наче знає, скільки можна мучити мене, доки мені урветься терпець. Знає і те, що досить йому хоч на мить збити мене з пантелику або насмішити, як мені вже несила й руку звести, щоб добряче його відшмагати. Ой, не виконую я свого обов’язку щодо хлопця, бачить бог! Хто попускає дитині, той псує її, говорить святе письмо. Грішниця я і знаю, що доведеться мені прийняти кару й за себе, й за нього. В ньому наче біс сидить, то помилуй мене боже він же, сердешна дитина, син моєї покійної сестри, і мені просто не стає духу лупцювати його. Щоразу як даю йому втекти, мене гризе сумління, а як по-б ю його – аж серце кров’ю обкипає. Правду каже святе письмо: короткий вік людський і сповнений скорботи, – так-бо воно й є... Ось він сьогодні не піде до школи, то я повинна покарати його за це: доведеться йому завтра працювати. Хоч це й жорстоко – змушувати його працювати в суботу, коли всі інші хлопці гулятимуть, але ж праця – то для нього справжня мука, і я повинна бодай так виконувати свій обов’язок, а то геть занапащу хлопця. Марк Твен «Пригоди Тома Сойєра», Переклад: В. Митрофанов.
But Tom’s energy did not last. He began to think of the fun he had planned for this day, and his sorrows multiplied. Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions, and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work – the very thought of it burnt him like fire. He got out his worldly wealth and examined it – bits of toys, marbles, and trash; enough to buy an exchange of WORK, maybe, but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom. So he returned his straitened means to his pocket, and gave up the idea of trying to buy the boys. At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration. Mark Twain «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer».	Але завзяття Томового вистачило ненадовго. Він почав думати про те, як весело мав провести суботній день, і його опосів ще більший смуток. Скоро інші хлопці, вільні як птахи, рушать до всяких принадних місць, і як же вони збиткуватимуться з Тома, коли побачать, що він мусить працювати, – сама ця думка пекла його вогнем. Він видобув на світ свої скарби й почав роздивлятись їх: поламані дрібнички, кульки, інший мотлох, – усе воно, може, й пішло б в обмін на чужу працю, але навряд чи його вистачило б, щоб купити бодай півгодини цілковитої волі. Отож, облишивши будь-яку надію підкупити товаришів, він сховав до кишені ті вбогі цяцьки, і в цю ж таки темну хвилину зневіри на нього раптом зійшло натхнення. Атож, не що інше, як чудове запаморочливе натхнення. Марк Твен «Пригоди Тома Сойєра», Переклад: В. Митрофанов.
This superintendent was a slim creature of thirty-five, with a sandy goatee and short sandy hair; he wore a stiff standing-collar whose upper edge almost reached his ears and whose sharp points curved forward abreast the corners of his mouth – a fence that compelled a straight lookout ahead, and a turning of the whole body when a side view was required; his chin was propped on a spreading cravat which was as broad and as long as a bank-note, and had fringed ends; his boot toes were turned sharply up, in the fashion of the day, like sleigh-runners – an effect patiently and laboriously produced by the young men by sitting with their toes pressed against a wall for hours together. Mr. Walters was very earnest of mien, and very sincere and honest at heart; and he held sacred things and places in such reverence, and so separated them from worldly matters, that unconsciously to himself his Sunday-school voice had acquired a peculiar intonation which was wholly absent on week-days. Mark Twain «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer».	Директор був миршавий чоловічок років тридцяти п’яти, з рудуватою цапиною борідкою і коротко підстриженим рудуватим волоссям, у твердому стоячому комірці, верхній край якого мало не впирався йому під вуха, а гострі ріжки стриміли спереду біля самих кутиків рота,- то був наче паркан, що змушував його дивитися тільки просто себе, а коли треба було поглянути вбік, він мусив повертатися всім тілом; підборіддя директорове лежало на краватці, що була завширшки й завдовжки з велику банкноту і мала торочки на кінцях; а носаки його черевиків згідно з модою тих часів хвацько загиналися вгору, мов полози санок,- такого шику тодішні модники досягали ціною неабияких зусиль, годинами сидячи проти стіни й упершись у неї ногами. Містер Уолтерс був дуже поважний на вигляд і дуже щирий та доброчесний душею; він так побожно шанував святі речі й місця і так суворо відмежовував їх від усього світського, що, сам того не усвідомлюючи, промовляв у недільній школі з такими модуляціями в голосі, з якими ніколи не говорив у будні. Марк Твен «Пригоди Тома Сойєра», Переклад: В. Митрофанов.
The minister gave out his text and droned along monotonously through an argument that was so prosy that many a head by and by began to nod – and yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned the predestined elect down to a company so small as to be hardly worth the saving. Tom counted the pages of the sermon; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but he seldom knew anything else about the discourse. However, this time he was really interested for a little while. The minister made a grand and moving picture of the assembling together of the world’s hosts at the millennium when the lion and the lamb should lie down together and a little child should lead them. But the pathos, the lesson, the moral of the great spectacle were lost upon the boy; he only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal character before the on-looking nations; his face lit with the thought, and he said to himself that he wished he could be that child, if it was a tame lion. Now he lapsed into suffering again, as the dry argument was resumed. Presently he bethought him of a treasure he had and got it out. It was a large black beetle with formidable jaws – a «pinchbug», he called it. It was in a percussion-cap box. The first thing the beetle did was to take him by the finger. A natural fillip followed, the beetle went floundering into the aisle and lit on its back, and the hurt finger went into the boy’s mouth. The beetle lay there working its helpless legs, unable to turn over. Tom eyed it, and longed for it; but it was safe out of his reach. Other people uninterested in the sermon found relief in the beetle, and they eyed it too. Mark Twain «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer».	Священик прочитав цитату з Біблії, а тоді затарабанив свою проповідь, страшенно довгу й нудну, так що невдовзі багато хто почав куняти, хоч ішлося там про жахливі муки грішників у пеклі та про спасенних обранців божих, – щоправда, їх мала лишитися така мізерна купка, що й спасати не варт. Том пильно лічив сторінки: після проповіді він завжди знав, скільки прочитано сторінок, але майже ніколи – про що в ній говорилося. А втім, цього разу його на часинку зацікавив і самий зміст. Пастир саме змальовував величну й зворушливу картину того, як настане на землі царство боже, і зберуться разом праведники з цілого світу, і ляжуть поряд лев та ягня, і мала дитина поведе їх. Але весь пафос і висока мораль цього прекрасного видовища пропали для хлопця марно: його вразила лише видатна роль, яку призначалося малій дитині, та ще й перед очима праведників цілого світу, і йому навіть захотілося самому стати тією дитиною, – звісно, якщо лев буде ручний. Та в наступну хвилину муки Томові поновилися, бо далі знов пішло нудне просторікування. Аж раптом він згадав, яку чудову забавку має в кишені, і видобув її на світ. То був великий чорний жук із страхітливими щелепами – «кусач», як називав його Том. Він лежав у коробочці від пістонів і, коли Том відкрив її, одразу ж учепився йому в палець. Хлопець з несподіванки шарпнув рукою, і жук полетів у прохід між лавами й упав на спину, а вкушений палець Том застромив у рот. Жук лежав на підлозі й безпорадно дриґав лапками, неспроможний перевернутися Том дивився туди, і його так і поривало схопити жука знов, але той лежав надто далеко. Дехто з людей, яким нудно було слухати проповідь, також помітили жука і тепер з цікавістю стежили за ним. Марк Твен «Пригоди Тома Сойєра», Переклад: В. Митрофанов.
‘The landscape was misty and vague. I was still on the hill-side upon which this house now stands, and the shoulder rose above me grey and dim. I saw trees growing and changing like puffs of vapour, now brown, now green; they grew, spread, shivered, and passed away. I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and pass like dreams. The whole surface of the earth seemed changed – melting and flowing under my eyes. The little hands upon the dials that registered my speed raced round faster and faster. Presently I noted that the sun belt swayed up and down, from solstice to solstice, in a minute or less, and that consequently my pace was over a year a minute; and minute by minute the white snow flashed across the world, and vanished, and was followed by the bright, brief green of spring. H. G. Wells The Time Machine».	Усе навкруги оповив туман. Я був усе ще на пагорку, де оце стоїть мій будинок, і схил височів збоку сіро й тьмяно. Я бачив, як дерева змінювали свої форми, наче клубки пари то брунатного, то зеленого кольору, як вони росли, більшали і, тремтячи, зникали. Я бачив, як підіймалися розкішні величезні будівлі і танули одразу ж, наче сновиддя. Поверхня землі змінювалась у мене на очах. Маленькі стрілки на циферблаті, що показували швидкість руху, крутилися дедалі швидше. Я помітив, що вогненна смуга, яка заміняла сонце, відхилялася то на північ, то на південь, від літнього сонцестояння до зимового. Значить, протягом хвилини я пролітав більше одного року. Землю то засипало снігом, то сніг зникав, і натомість з’являлась свіжа весняна зелень. Г.Д. Веллс «Машина часу», Переклад: М. Іванов.
‘At once, like a lash across the face, came the possibility of losing my own age, of being left helpless in this strange new world. The bare thought of it was an actual physical sensation. I could feel it grip me at the throat and stop my breathing. In another moment I was in a passion of fear and running with great leaping strides down the slope. Once I fell headlong and cut my face; I lost no time in stanching the blood, but jumped up and ran on, with a warm trickle down my cheek and chin. All the time I ran I was saying to myself: «They have moved it a little, pushed it under the bushes out of the way». Nevertheless, I ran with all my might. All the time, with the certainty that sometimes comes with excessive dread, I knew that such assurance was folly, knew instinctively that the machine was removed out of my reach. My breath came with pain. I suppose I covered the whole distance from the hill crest to the little lawn, two miles perhaps, in ten minutes. And I am not a young man. I cursed aloud, as I ran, at my confident folly in leaving the machine, wasting good breath thereby. I cried aloud, and none answered. Not a creature seemed to be stirring in that moonlit world. H. G. Wells The Time Machine».	Наче удар батогом по обличчю, мене обпекла думка про те, що я ніколи не повернуся до своєї доби і безпорадний залишуся в цьому дивному новому світі. Думка ця викликала в мене відчуття чисто фізичного болю. Здавалося, що мене стиснули за горло й душать. За хвилину, охоплений жахом, я величезними стрибками уже мчав униз. Один раз я спіткнувся, полетів шкереберть і подряпав собі обличчя. Не гаючи часу на те, щоб спинити кров, я схопився на ноги й знову побіг, а тепла цівочка струмувала в мене по щоках і підборіддю. Біжучи, я раз у раз заспокоював себе: вони трохи відсунули її, поставили в кущі, щоб вона не заважала їм ходити по дорозі, – і мчав щодуху. Одночасно з певністю, яка іноді з’являється разом із надмірним переляком, я знав, що надії мої безпідставні і що Машини своєї я не знайду. Мені забивало дух. Думаю, що всю віддаль між вершиною пагорка й галявиною, тобто близько двох миль, я промчав за десять хвилин. А я ж не такий уже й молодий. Дорогою я вголос кляв себе за свою нерозважливість, що так покинув Машину, і через це задихався ще більше. Та крики мої лишалися без відповіді. Жодна жива істота не показалася в місячному світлі. Г.Д. Веллс «Машина часу», Переклад: М. Іванов.
‘So I travelled, stopping ever and again, in great strides of a thousand years or more, drawn on by the mystery of the earth’s fate, watching with a strange fascination the sun grow larger and duller in the westward sky, and the life of the old earth ebb away. At last, more than thirty million years hence, the huge red-hot dome of the sun had come to obscure nearly a tenth part of the darkling heavens. Then I stopped once more, for the crawling multitude of crabs had disappeared, and the red beach, save for its livid green liverworts and lichens, seemed lifeless. And now it was flecked with white. A bitter cold assailed me. Rare white flakes ever and again came eddying down. To the north-eastward, the glare of snow lay under the starlight of the sable sky and I could see an undulating crest of hillocks pinkish white. There were fringes of ice along the sea margin, with drifting masses further out; but the main expanse of that salt ocean, all bloody under the eternal sunset, was still unfrozen. H. G. Wells The Time Machine».	Так подорожував я, пролітаючи тисячоліття простору, усе далі й далі, захоплений бажанням глянути на майбутнє Землі. Час від часу я спинявся, мов зачарований, дивився на призахідне сонце, що дедалі більшало та темнішало, і на нашу Землю, життя на якій поволі завмирало. Нарешті, більше як через тридцять мільйонів років, величезне червоногаряче громаддя сонця затулило собою майже десяту частину всього тьмяного неба. Я ще раз спинився, бо крабів уже не було, а червонястий берег, коли не зважати на блідо-брунатні мохи та лишайники, перетворився на пустелю, подекуди вкриту білими плямами снігу. Гострий холод пронизав мене. Зверху падали негусті пластівці снігу. На північному сході під зоряним склепінням понурого неба блищав сніг, а віддалік вимальовувалось хвилясте пасмо рожево-білих пагорбів. Море коло берега взялося кригою, по воді пливли айсберги. Проте більша частина солоного океану, що кривавим світлом вилискував у променях вічного заходу, була ще вільна від льоду. Г.Д. Веллс «Машина часу», Переклад: М. Іванов.

Poetry is one of the most difficult literary genres that require the very sensitive and deeply intelligent understanding of reality. A poet transforms a surrounding world in a lyric poetry, getting it through the prism of the literary image. It is the main problem of a poetic translation. A concrete literary task is being put before a translator. This task lies in understanding the image to pass all its particularity and depth of emotional experience. That is the very reason a poetic translation is rightly considered to be an independent work of art. Translation of poetry is an interpretation of the integral literary work of art that does already exist. The level of its literary value is exceptionally the merit of a translator. Therefore, there is always a question about the extent of correspondence of the source language text to the target language one. Perhaps, it is necessary to say that some translators sacrifice details in pursuit of a literary form.

In order not to recede from definite conception of passing the image, a translator can save or sacrifice rhyme, rhythmics and sometimes even the features of the age the source language text was written. This necessity is dictated by the faithfulness in choosing foreign equivalents. An aspiration to pass for certain the emotional aspects of the source language text forces to sacrifice the exactness of a text and vice versa. Thus, it turns out that a translator of a poetic text in his own work becomes a creator enjoying full rights, but his task is complicated by the scopes of the literary image that already exists.

Poetic organization of the literary speech has an effect of its specific character on the principles of literary poetic translation. However, it is necessary to take into account the requirements to faithful literary translation.

Art of poetic translation is affected by two contradictory tendencies: on the one hand, the poems translated must have emotional impression on a reader, and on the other hand, they must bring something new in a literature to enrich readers with unknown poetic images, rhythms, lines etc. In the first case they are called to adjust the stranger art to perception of the native language readers, in the second one they are used to expose a wide art variety in order to show the beauty of excellent national forms, history stratifications, individual creative systems to the readers.

Translation must sound as the source language poems and that is the very essential of the elements of exactness and faithfulness. But through the prism of the target language the national spirit and national form of the source language text must be expressly felt, as well as the individual style of a poet.

It may be said that poetry is untranslatable. Translating verses is choosing between a rhyme and a reason. A translator is being required to pass sounding and thought or rhyme and reason as precisely as possible. To pass them completely is impossible for the obvious reasons. Of course, there are sometimes good results but they are rare enough. When translating foreign language verses into the native language one, a translator must take into account all their elements in their difficult connection, as his task is to find the same connection in the plane of his native language which would reflect a source language text as precisely as possible and would have the same emotional effect.

Consequently, a translator must take a role of a foreign language author upon himself, accepting his manner and language, intonations and rhymes, at the same time keeping faithfulness to the native language and to his poetic individuality.

1) Reconstructing type (that means reproducing contents and form with completeness and faithfulness).

2) Recreating type (that means recreating contents and form with completeness and faithfulness).

The second type is considered to be the only possible. A translator must set a functional equivalence between the structure of the source language text and the target language one. A translator’s task is to recreate the unity of form and contents in translation that covers the literary completeness that is necessary to carry the most delicate nuances of the creative thoughts of an author to the reader.

The contents cannot exist till the necessary form is found. The form of a poem is made by the complex of interrelated and interactive elements, such as rhythm, melody, architectonics, stylistics, semantic and emotional content of the words and word-combinations. The formal structure of a poem is a basis for creation of its rhythm that is considered to be «the deepest, most powerful organizing beginning of poetry».

As an illustrative example, there are Ukrainian translations of a fragment from Shakespeare’s play «Hamlet» below. Comparing given translations will give you the possibility to watch rhythmic and intonational bases, language devices of laconic brevity creation, allegorical language of Shakespeare’s heroes etc.