Exploring the Issue of (Un)translatability of Poetry between English and Arabic: An Analytical and Critical Study

Abstract

This paper investigates the solutions for the problematic issue of the debate over un/translatability of poetry, particularly between English and Arabic. The issue of un/translatability is going to be analyzed and discussed in view of Lefevere's (1975) seven strategies and a blueprint. This study tries to answer four questions: What makes poetry translatable or not? How do translation theories and approaches be used and applied to poetry translation and why? What is the most frequently used translation strategy in translating the selected poems? Which of the approaches and strategies can fit the translation of poetry to maintain its nature? The methodology adopted in the study is mixed methods, i.e., qualitative and quantitative. It evaluates the quality-assessment of the target text by the frequencies of Lefevere's (1975) taxonomy. This study arrived at the conclusion that poetry is translatable for many reasons, the most significant one is cultural interaction. Moreover, the choice of the translation approaches and strategies is not fixed; they can, however, co-exist. In other words, the two orientations, i.e. free and literal ones, should supplement and complement each other in terms of time and spatial factors in poetic translation. The present study endeavors to analyze the decision-making process that the selected translators follow as well as how their orientation affects the way they handle culture-specific references, figurative language, imagery, structure, prosody and so on in the translation.