Translation as Interpretation: Ezra Pound and Old English Poetry
- Issue:
- УДК / UDK: 821.111
- DOI:
- Abstract:
The paper dwells on Ezra Pound's translations of Old English poetry. The essay gives a brief outlook on Pound’s study of the Old English language during his college years, highlights the poet’s interests in a field of Old English culture. Pound’s view on the very issue of translation as an interpretation (that is the reason why Pound’s translations are not literal) is analyzed on the basis of his essays. It is highly characteristic for Pound to reduce the text of the original while translating it, which is due to several reasons. First of all, it is connected with the imagery which was of Pound’s interest: he translated fragments which were compliant with his own poetic voice (the character of the poem often becomes the poet’s persona; a certain conflict is reflected in the poem). Next, it was characteristic of the early XXth century scholars of Old English who strove to “clean up” authentic Old English texts from later insertions, to return them into their original state. Thus, Christian motifs in Old English poetry were considered to be later insertions; Pound, translating Old English texts, removed all Christian imagery from them. Finally, Pound's interpretative translation technique could be drawn from the medieval translation strategy called translatio, which allowed changing the original text while translating it. However, despite taking some liberties in his translations, Pound paid special attention to the sound image of the translated texts. On the basis of the abovementioned, the paper gives an analysis of two Pound’s translations – Old English charm “Wið færstice” (ca. 10th century; Pound’s translation ca. 1904-1905) and the heroic elegy “Sæfaran” (10th century; Pound’s translation “The Seafarer”, 1911).
- Keywords: Ezra Pound, “The Seafarer”, “Wið færstice”, XXth century American literary history, translation, Old English poetry, translatio.
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