Magin_Edward-thesis

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translator moves further into the game, each choice limits further choices:
the choice of archaic idiom, for example, tends to prohibit later recourse to
contemporary slang, and the choice of a strict rhyme scheme and/or
metrical system serves to restrict subsequent lexical and syntactic choices
quite severely.
Our problem, it would seem, has subtly shifted ground while we have been
discussing it. Rather than coming to a definition of the limits of
translatability such that we can say “all translation can attain this, and no
more”, we have arrived at a polyvalent situation: the verse translator, by
virtue of the choices he is required to make in his pursuit of the illusion of
unity, presents one possible interpretation (out of many) of the original
poem, re-emphasizing certain aspects at the cost of others. It is for this
reason that there will always be need of more than one translation of any
poem of importance, since several translations present more facets of the
original than any one can do. (Holmes 1988:50-51)
In the above lines, Holmes has definitively explained how formidable the task of
translating poetry is. However, it is a worthwhile task, especially for those who desire to
provide others with glimpses into the lives and thoughts of people who speak languages
different from our own. Like Schlegel―so thankful for what German’s could learn from
Wieland’s translation of Shakespeare―many still long to learn via the reading of
translated poetry.
2.2.4.3 Boerger’s principles for translating poetry
Boerger (1997) advocates for translating poetry as poetry. To that end she
articulates ten principles for translating poetry in an attempt to capture the decisionmaking
process of a metapoet who is trying to balance the two criteria expressed by
Holmes in the first paragraph of the quote immediately above. That is, she aims for her
principles to address accuracy to the degree that the resulting effort can be viewed as a
translation and for the principles to also address artistic and poetic considerations that
result in the translation also being viewed as a poem. She applies these principles in her
metapoetic translation POET Psalms, where the principles are refined and rearticulated as
below (Boerger 2009:17).