GETTING AROUND OBSTACLES IN TRANSLATIION: D. THOMAS “THE HAND”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the reproduction of the D. Thomas’ poetic world in the translation interpretation. During the work, artistic images are singled out, which play a key role in the perception of the Welsh poet’s work. In some places, complex metaphors, non-standard associative images and deep philosophical content open and expand the author’s artistic world to the reader. In addition, the main problem is highlighted: a clear emotional reflection of the original content. Is it possible to adequately translate a poetic work? Usually, the four categories of translation adequacy assessment are helping out, namely the interpretation is considered on the basis of equirymicity, equirhythmicity, equilinearity and equivalence. The latter is the most demanding and important in the reproduction of original images, because, thus, it conveys the content and context to the reader. The main keys to successful translation are revealed. D. Thomas is a Welsh poet and writer who has been and is studied by many linguists, literary critics and translators. Each of them sees special features in the author’s work. G. Ionkis reveals mythological images, eternal themes of life and death, the identification of nature with consciousness as a rapprochement with English romanticism. However, at the same time, Thomas offers a radically new figurative perception. Thus, there is a combination of classic lines of romanticism and modernist innovation. In the opinion of M.Virozub, there are many complex allusions and rhythmic constructions in the work of the researched author, which complicates the possibility of adequate reproduction of interpretation. The translator believes that the unique melody and the sounds of the work can be fully felt only by the native speaker. However, when studying the work of D. Thomas, it seemed doubtful that this alone was enough. The author’s works are sometimes overintense with Welsh folklore and an incomprehensible associative series, which complicates the possibility of perception of the work even by the natives. After all, English and Welsh are completely different languages, so in order to feel the whole layer of metaphors you need to know the language and understand the cultural features of Wales. The article explores linguistic content of D. Thomas’ poem – “The Hand…”. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the only military lyrics of the author. Thus, a lot of linguistic features such as metonymy, metaphors, personification are added to the symbolic layer. What exactly they symbolize is revealed at the research stage. The analysis of the translation itself proved that one hundred percent adequate reproduction is impossible, but the translator managed to reflect the desired mood and spirit of the selected poem. The analysis really helped in an attempt of own translation version. In future, it is planned to translate the same piece of work in native Ukrainian language. Thus, the relevance of the poem remains very popular, because during the study it was possible to find only one interpretation of the poem in Ukrainian. This means that the author of the article should try to translate the work into her native language as soon as possible. Accordingly, more research is needed, because the world of D. Thomas is the infinite depth of the poetic universe and Ukrainian language is really full of melody itself!