T. S. Eliot’s Poetry in Persian: A Case Study of Translating Metaphors in “Waste Land”

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Seyyedd Bakhtiar Sajjadi ¹

Naser Rostami ²

¹ Department of English, Kordestan University, Sanandaj, Iran

² Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Scientific and Research Branch, East Azerbaijan, Tabriz, Iran

10.22067/lts.v47i1.42875

Abstract

This study is critically engaged to compare and contrast T. S. Eliot’s poem, “The Waste Land”, with its corresponding Persian translations in order to analyze strategies adopted by Iranian translators to deal with the metaphorical nature of his poetry in terms of Peter Newmark’s theory of translation in English and SirusShamisa’s approaches to classifying metaphors in Persian. Moreover, it argues whether the frameworks presented by Newmark and Shamisa for metaphor are applicable to poetry translation and literary metaphors or they need some additions or deletions. To this end, Eliot's heavily metaphorical and allusive “The Waste Land” was studied along with its seven Persian translations. In spite of the fact that translators made much endeavor trying to keep SL’s metaphors, it should be mentioned that the two categories of metaphors in two languages, according to Newmark and Shamisa, are rather distinct. Unfortunately, in Persian, there is no framework or foundation for translation. This condition can lead to failure while translating from non-identical languages or cultures. In addition, convincing evidence exists that there is a link between imitation and the dominant strategy.

Keywords

Metaphor

The Waste Land

T.S.Eliot

Peter Newmark

Translation Strategies

Modern Poetry

20.1001.1.22285202.1393.47.1.2.0

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