Transformations of Poetic Rhythm in Poems by Jaroslaw Iwaszkewicz, Translated by Ivan Valev

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to trace the reception of the poetry of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894–1980) in Bulgaria. Moreover, the study aims to examine the questions and outline the challenges related to conveying poetic rhythm in selected Bulgarian translations of his work. An overview of rhythm as a concept opens the paper. It is followed by a more specific discussion of rhythm in syllabic versification, which is characteristic of Polish poetry, including the period during which the poet published most of his work. The author examines in detail the reception of Iwaszkiewicz’s poems published in Bulgaria and then focuses the analysis on selected Bulgarian translations by Ivan Valev, included in the collection Tomorrow Is the Harvest (1982). The originals are drawn from the Polish poet’s debut volume Oktostychy (Octaves), published in 1919. Only the works with syllabic versification are considered in the present research. The article explores how this feature is conveyed in the Bulgarian translation, as well as the challenges arising from the differences between the original language and the language of translation. The study shows that the translator does not keep the syllabic meter used in the original works, but instead seeks a rhythmic correspondence through introducing a syllabotonic meter and employing several metrical feet. This shows how the characteristics of the two languages influence the analyzed texts. This influence is expressed in the lengthening of verses in some of the translations, and in cases where the syllable count is preserved, parts of the imagery from the original poems are sometimes omitted, replaced with others, or supplemented with new elements. These changes were made to keep the rhyming.

Original title in Bulgarian: "Трансформации на поетическия ритъм в стихове на Ярослав Ивашкевич, преведени от Иван Вълев"