Mechanism of poetry translation: A case study of versified translation

Translation of poetry has been a subject of scholarly interest for centuries. It poses numerous challenges, including the difficulty of conveying the poet's intended meaning, preserving the poetic form and structure, and retaining the emotional impact of the original work. The primary purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the translation process, particularly when dealing with poetry. By employing Conrad Potter Aiken's analytical approach to translation, this research seeks to shed light on the cognitive aspects involved in the transference of poetic meaning from one language to another. Through a case study of the translation of "When You Are Old" into Azerbaijani Turkish, the study aims to explore the intricate decisions and creative adaptations that the translator had to make while preserving the essence of the original poem. In the second attempt, the translation of “When you are old” is compared with some translations in Azerbaijani Turkish (Sabir’s translation of Hafiz), Persian (Nasime- Shomal’s translation of Sabir), and English (Fitzgerald’s translation of Khayyam) to present a crosslinguistic analysis of poetic translation to study the qualities of successful poetic translations. The results of the paper showed that translators of poetry, to achieve a successful translation, must be successful in transferring both form and content. The conveyance of meaning in poetry translation can be similar to the conveyance of meaning from any text, and if the translator masters both languages, it can be possible. However, to covey the form, the translator must be a poet. The investigations of Turkish, Persian, and English translations showed that mastering the respective prosody is not enough, and the translator must possess poetic wit and he must be a poet himself. This study also showed that the poetic translation can be successful if it looks like a poem in the target language. Moreover, one of the criteria for examining and investigating the translation is referring to the successful translations of that language.