Islamic Azad University
Central Tehran Branch
Faculty Of Foreign Languages _ Department of English
Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements For The
Degree Of Masters of Art In Translation Studies
Subject:
Translating poetry:
AN ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSLATION OF METAPHORS IN
SHAKESPEARE’S TRANSLATED SONNETS
Thesis Advisor:
Dr. Salar Manafi Anari
Thesis Reader:
Dr. Hajar Khan Mohammad
By:
Samira Nekooeeyan
Winter 2012
In The Name Of God
This thesis is dedicated to my parents
for their love, endless support
and encouragement.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to the people who have
been involved in the successful completion of this thesis. This thesis would not
have been possible without the essential and gracious support of many
individuals, especially the personal support and interest of my advisor Dr. Salar
Manafi Anari, who has supported me throughout my thesis with his patience and
knowledge. I am deeply grateful to my reader Dr. Hajar Khan Mohammad, for
her detailed review and constructive comments during the preparation of this
thesis. I am highly indebted to them for constantly encouraging me by
giving their critics on my work. I am grateful to them for having given
me the support and confidence. I attribute the level of my Masters degree to
their encouragement and effort and without them this thesis, too, would not have
been completed or written.
I must also acknowledge Dr. Kourosh Akef for his suggestions and
excellent advice during the development of this thesis.
Finally, my family certainly deserves the ultimate thanks and greatest
appreciation. They have supported me every step of the way, not only in this
thesis, but throughout my life.
Abstract
This research is a descriptive and corpus based research. It analyzes
strategies for translation of metaphors in two different translations of
Shakespeare’s sonnets. To start this analysis the researcher has provided fifty six
metaphors from twenty different original sonnets that have been chosen
randomly,
and
has
investigated
their
Persian
translations
done
by
Tafazzoli(1384) and Moghaddam(1388), in order to find their most and least
used strategies for translation of metaphor. The framework of this study is:
Principles for translation of metaphor proposed by Newmark(1988).
Both of the translations were studied comparatively and strategies used,
were extracted.
At the end, the researcher concluded that among different strategies for
translation of metaphor proposed by Newmark, in Tafazzoli translation,
“reproducing the same image in the TL” has been mostly used. And “Replacing
the image in the SL with a standard TL image” is used once and “Translation of
metaphor by simile, retaining the image” is used twice. He has not used other
strategies at all.
This use of strategies caused the Persian translation to be analogous to the
source language regarding figurative language and literary devices.
But in Moghadam’s translation of metaphor, “Reproducing the same image in TL”
has been less than Tafazzoli’s translation, and after that “Deletion” is the most
used strategy. He has used “Replacing the same image in the SL with a standard
TL image” , “Translation of metaphor by simile, retaining the image” , “conversion
of metaphor to sense” and “ Translation of metaphor by the same metaphor plus
sense” at the same level. However, he has not used “Translation of metaphor by
simile plus sense” at all.
Contents
Chapter I ...................................................................................................................1
Introduction ...........................................................................................................1
1.1
Overview ................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2
Significance of the study ........................................................................................................... 3
1.3
Statement Of Problem ............................................................................................................... 4
1.4
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 6
1.5
Key Terms:................................................................................................................................ 7
1.6
Limitations Of The Study ....................................................................................................... 11
Chapter II ...............................................................................................................12
Review of The Related Literature .....................................................................12
2.1.
Translation: ............................................................................................................................. 13
2.2.
Translation theories and types................................................................................................. 14
2.3.
POETRY ................................................................................................................................. 17
2.4.
Translating poetry ................................................................................................................... 21
2.5.
Translating the meaning .......................................................................................................... 23
2.6.
Form vs content....................................................................................................................... 28
2.7.
Metaphor ................................................................................................................................. 38
2.8.
Types of metaphor .................................................................................................................. 38
2.9.
Newmark’s classification of metaphor: .................................................................................. 52
2.10.
History of literature and language ....................................................................................... 54
2.11.
Methods of metaphor translation ........................................................................................ 56
2.12.
Lawrence Venuti’s domesticating and foreignising ............................................................ 57
2.13.
Peter Newmark’s seven methods for metaphors translation ............................................... 58
2.14.
Identifying Metaphors ......................................................................................................... 60
2.15.
Metaphor, analogy and simile ............................................................................................. 62
2.16.
English (Shakespearean) sonnet.......................................................................................... 62
Chapter III ..............................................................................................................68
Methodology ........................................................................................................68
3.1.
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 69
3.2.
Corpus ..................................................................................................................................... 69
3.3.
Design ..................................................................................................................................... 69
3.4.
Procedure ................................................................................................................................ 70
3.5.
Thesis Organization ................................................................................................................ 71
Chapter IV ..............................................................................................................72
Result and discussion ..........................................................................................72
4.1.
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 73
4.2.
Metaphors from sonnets .......................................................................................................... 73
4.3.
Metaphors, translations and strategies used by the translators.............................................. 107
4.4.
Charts .................................................................................................................................... 136
Chapter V..............................................................................................................138
Conclusion, Implications and suggestions for further study ........................138
5.1.
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 139
5.2.
Implications........................................................................................................................... 141
5.3.
Suggestions for further research ........................................................................................... 143
References: ............................................................................................................144
List of Tables and Charts
Tables:
4.1. Metaphors, translations and strategies used by the translators ..............................107
4.2. Frequency and percentage of metaphor translation strategy applied by the two
translators ...............................................................................................................................134
Charts:
4.1. Frequency and percentage of metaphor translation strategy applied by Taghi
Tafazoli…………………………………………………………………………..……136
4.2. Frequency and percentage of metaphor translation strategy applied by Behnam
Moghadam……………………………………………………………………...……..137
Chapter I
Introduction
1
1.1
Overview
The present study is an attempt to investigate the translation of
metaphors in Shakespeare’s selected sonnets. The study aims to analyze and
compare the metaphors in Shakespeare’s selected sonnets and their
corresponding translated Persian versions. The study also considers the
translators that translated Shakespeare’s metaphors. The research uses
selected models of metaphor translation, to study and analyze which
strategies the translators have used the most and the least. The findings
obtained from the analysis of the related data show that “Reproducing the
same image in the TL” is the most used method between Iranian translators
of Shakespeare, and that trying to keep the rhyme of the sonnet, at times
causes the loss of figurative language.
The current study tries to investigate the frequency of different methods
of translating metaphor of the original poems in the framework of
Newmark’s theory (1988).
2
1.2
Significance of the study
This research has very important and noticeable relevancies. Firstly, it is
an attempt to help the translators to find better and precise equivalents for
source text metaphor and give them efficient insights to produce more
accurate translations of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Second, it is hoped that the
study on the translation of the metaphors in Shakespeare’s poems will further
address the problems in translating literary texts and propose other research
questions and topics for researchers. Third, it deals with the existing
problems and challenges in the translation of metaphor. Forth, it sheds light
on the applicability of Newmark’s theory on the translation of metaphor from
English to Persian.
3
1.3
Statement of the Problem
This research looks at Shakespeare’s poems and discusses the intricacies
of translating them. The main problems faced by the translators in translating
metaphors will be discussed. It should be noted that the main concern in
translating Shakespeare’s poems, in general, and metaphors in particular, is
how to best convey the messages and beauties Shakespeare has used in his
poems. In this study, it is intended to investigate the messages and beauties
of metaphors in the translation of Shakespeare’s poems carried out by two
translators. There are two main problems the translators faced in translating
metaphors in Shakespeare’s lyrics:
A. There are complexities in understanding, interpreting, and recreating,
his sonnets. One should take into consideration the fact that the poetic form
of sonnet, on its own, is full of divine knowledge, insight, and wisdom, all of
which are perceptions that require an extensive study of literature and
especially working on metaphorical aspects of poetry. This is the case with
Shakespeare.
B. There are different types of metaphors such as dead, alive, cliché, etc.
found in Shakespeare's works. They have distinct denotative and connotative
meanings and references. The translator should try to bring his translation
close to the connotative meaning. It is rather difficult to find an equivalent
which totally and equally matches the original or concept if the translator
4
sticks to the mere denotative equivalents of the metaphorical words. To
clarify the point, it should be added that the images should be selected
according to their underlying meaning and mystical significance. The
translator should comprehend the differences between various cultural and
social structures in which the poem has been shaped. In fact, there should be
a reasonable relation between the translator's selected images of metaphors
and the original one.
The Translator should be aware that using different methods causes
different effects on the translation, and that keeping the figurative language of
the sonnet is the most important thing in translating sonnets. If the translator
is trying to keep the rhyme of the sonnet, he would lose some of its figurative
language. The theoretical framework for translating metaphor used in this
research is the theory of Newmark (1988).
5
1.4
Research Questions
The above objectives should be achieved via the following research
questions:
a. What is the frequency of each strategy used in the translation of
shakespeare's sonnets?
b. What is the most frequently used strategy that the translators have
employed to translate Shakespeare’s metaphors in sonnets into
Persian according to Newmark’s frame work?
c. What is the least frequently used strategy that the translators have
employed to translate Shakespeare’s metaphors into Persian
according to Newmark’s frame work
6
1.5
Key Terms:
SONNET:
The sonnet is one of several forms of poetry originating in
Europe, mainly Great Britain and Italy, and commonly has 14 lines. The
term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word
sonetto, both meaning “little song” and "little sound" (J. Redmond,
2011: 3). By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of
fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure.
The conventions associated with the sonnet have evolved over its
history. The writers of sonnets are sometimes referred to as
"sonneteers," although the term can be used derisively. One of the bestknown sonnet writers is William Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them
(not including those that appear in his plays). A Shakespearean, or
English, sonnet consists of 14 lines, each line containing ten syllables
and written in iambic pentameter, in which a pattern of an unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable is repeated five times. The
rhyme scheme in a Shakespearean sonnet is a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g;
the last two lines are a rhyming couplet (J. Redmond, 2010: 3)
7
Metaphor:
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story
or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible
quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels". Metaphor may
also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their
effects via association, comparison or resemblance. In this broader
sense, antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile would all be
considered types of metaphor. Aristotle used both this sense and the
regular, current sense above. With metaphor, unlike analogy, specific
interpretations are not given explicitly (Wikipedia. nd).
Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike
in most ways are similar in one important way. A metaphor is more forceful
(active) than an analogy, because metaphor asserts two things are the same,
whereas analogy implies a difference; other rhetorical comparative figures of
speech, such as metonymy, parable, simile and synecdoche, are species of
metaphor distinguished by how the comparison is communicated. The
metaphor category also contains these specialized types (Wikipedia. nd):

Allegory: An extended metaphor wherein a story illustrates an
important attribute of the subject.

Catachresis: A mixed metaphor used by design and accident (a
rhetorical fault).
8

Parable: An extended metaphor narrated as an anecdote
illustrating and teaching a moral lesson.
Metaphors are created for the purpose of insightful close reading.
Usually created for the purpose of better internal visualization and
comparison to another concept from which one can draw his or her own
conclusion. A 'dead metaphor' may appear transparent upon first glance.
However, dead metaphors are the most common of all usages because of
common cultural or origin specific universal meaning. "I just can't shake it" is
an example of a universal metaphor that, because of its contextual reference
has an established implied message. Interpretation of metaphorical speaking
is 'in the eyes of the beholder.' Is the reader insightful enough to recognize a
metaphor? Metaphorically speaking, "we should remove our blinders
(Wikipedia. nd)
Image:
An image is considered to be a picture created in the mind by words.
Generally images are divided as visual images and abstract images. Thus we
can say that an image besides being visual can be olfactory (smell), gustatory
(taste), tactile (touch) or auditory (related to ear).It is not necessary that an
image should be concrete like a still photograph, it can also be kinesthetic or
9
abstract. Basically an image can be literal, perceptual or conceptual. For
example “while some one else is eating or opening a window or just walking
dully alone” are literal images. The image of the torture’s horse scratching
“It’s innocent behind on a tree” is a perceptual image because of the
figurative use of the word “innocent”. The “dreadful martyrdom” that must
run its course is more conceptual because it is difficult to see the picture
(Adams, R. 2011)
Simile:
A simile is a type of figurative language, language that does not mean
exactly what it says, that makes a comparison between two otherwise unalike
objects or ideas by connecting them with the words "like" or "as." The reader
can see a similar connection with the verbs resemble, compare and liken.
Similes allow an author to emphasize a certain characteristic of an object by
comparing that object to an unrelated object that is an example of that
characteristic (Burnette, C. 2007).
10
1.6
Limitations and Delimitations Of The Study
The present research aims to investigate the translation of metaphors at
the world of the translations of Shakespeare’s poems in his selected lyrics. To
perform this task, the study has:
a. Identified and analyzed twenty sonnets which have been translated by
Iranian translators and contain metaphors and not all the sonnets.
b. Compared the translations of the selected lyrics by Behnam
Moghadam (1379), Taghi Tafazolli (1384) who have translated
Shakespeare’s sonnets into Persian and not these by the other translators.
The researcher has employed Newmark’s method (1988: 106). The
major limitation of this study is that there are only two different translations
of sonnets which are accessible. There is no glossary or study about metaphor
of Shakespeare’s sonnets so the researcher has provided this study and the
glossary herself.
11