Imagery in Translation

THE HOLLOW MEN (an excerpt)

A penny for the Old I

We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

Or rats' feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom

Remember us — if at all — not as lost

Violent souls, but only

As the hollow men

The stuffed men.

Практикум по художественному переводу_____

EXERCISES FOR TRANSLATION

• Study any Reader's Guide to Eliot on the poem. Look for
leaning of the epigraphs.

• While reading and translating the passage, note the allu-
> to such books and events as The Divine Comedy by Dante,
-/ of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and the traditions of the 5th
jmber in England in commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot
Ю5.

• Read the poem aloud and study its rhythmic and phonic
nples. Note the impression they produce alongside with the
al text.

• Study the choice of words and the syntax of the poem in
emotive and associative functions.

• Note the key words of the poem and look for their equiv-
:s in Russian. Think over adequate substitutes for such words
>//ow> stuffed, dried.

• Study the imagery of the poem created by a special ar-
ement of words in their poetic function.

• Translate the poem word for word and assess the result
i the point of view of poetic impression.

• Arrange the literally translated text according to require -
ts of rhythm, slant and irregular rhymes, and the lineage of
ource text.

• Read the text aloud to feel its rhythmic power.

• Complete the translation and discuss the result.

• Look for other translation versions of the poem and com-
t on them.

Imagery in Translation

POETRY UNIT 7:

TRANSLATING FYODOR TUTCHEV INTO ENGLISH