PROBLEMS OF ACCENTUATION IN TRANSLATING POETRY, I

(© LEON LEVIȚCHI)

            Accentuation consists, at large, in highlighting or underlining a notion, idea, feeling, attitude, etc. using various linguistic means (phonetic, lexical, grammatical, stylistic means) as well as several extra-linguistic means (gestures, mimicry, pauses etc.).

In communication, there are two main types of information that are sent and received: anaphoric information (information that is supposed to be already known by both the sender and the receiver) and epiphoric information (new information), although in many situations the boundaries between these two categories are not very easy to set. Since language is the most important means of communication, it has specific means for transmitting the two types of information. For example, the main function of the indefinite article is epiphoric, while the definite article mostly achieves the anaphoric function.

e.g. I saw a tall man crossing the street. The man was wearing a black suit.

 – a introduces new information,

- the introduces information already known by the receiver.

A correct process of communication involves the careful and sensible use of the anaphoric element; when the sender of the message does not observe this rule, he will inevitably keep the receiver away from correctly decoding the message.

◙ Underline the anaphoric elements in the following two texts, decide which of them fails to communicate the exact meaning and explain why:

1. “Once upon a time there lived two farmers, and their names were Hudden and Dudden. They had poultry in their yards, sheep on the uplands and scores of cattle in the meadow-land alongside the river.” (Hudden and Dudden, a Celtic folk-tale)

2. “darling! because my blood can sing / and dance (and does that with each your least / your any most very amazing now /or here) let pitiless fear play host / to every isn’t that’s under the spring / - but if a look should april me, / down isn’t’s own isn’t go ghostly they? (E.E. Cummings, Darling)

But, on the other hand, the essential element in communication is not the “old” (familiar, already known) information, but the new element, the epiphoric information. So, if the anaphoric (old) information coexists in communication with the epiphoric (new) information and since the new information represents the essence of communication, then the latter type of information is permanently underlined during this process, because, according to psychology, whatever is new appears as interesting and draws our attention.

Each language has its own system of epiphoric accentuation made up of several subsystems specific to different ages, literary trends, authors and works. A translator has to possess a thorough knowledge of this system of epiphoric accentuation in the TL language because this involves a knowledge of the style specific to the TL language.

Phonetic Stress / Accent

It is the main type of epiphoric accentuation and it refers to a specific stress laid on a sound or group of sounds by a high frequency sound wave. More specifically, this involves stressing the vowel sounds (vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs) in a syllable. There are four types of phonetic accent: tonic stress, syntactic stress, rhetorical stress, rhythmical stress.

a. Tonic stress refers to a syllable in a multi-syllable word or in a group of words which is more stressed than the other syllables. Since the most stressed syllable in a word coincides with its root, this is also called etymological stress. Then, on the other hand, it is principal (main, head) stress as opposed to secondary stress and zero stress (ˏunim`portant).

b. Syntactic stress underlines the logical importance of a word / several words in a sentence. Here, intonation is also involved in underlining those words.

When Emily goes out, she puts on a coat and a hat… the important words are: Emily, goes out, puts on, coat, hat.

c. Rhetorical stress helps the speaker underline a word he wants to bring to the special attention of the listener. Usually, this word is in implicit or explicit contrast with other words.

◙ Practice rhetorical stress with every word that allows for it in the following sentence:

“N. will impersonate Iago at the National Theatre tomorrow.”

Rhetorical stress falls on (a) word(s) that is/are epiphoric, at least from the speaker’s point of view. They mostly represent answers to special questions. The words having a rhetorical stress can be graphically signaled (underlined, italicized, written between inverted commas, etc.)

d. Rhythmical stress or ictus is specific to poetry and therefore of extreme importance for translators. It represents the syntactic stress laid in metric patterns that can be scanned.

i. The foot represents the metric pattern of a line in a poem made up of one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables. There are six foot types:

·         the iambus: one unstressed syllable + one stressed syllable (v-)

·         the trochee: one stressed syllable + one unstressed syllable (-v)

·         the dactyl: one stressed syllable + two unstressed syllables (-vv)

·         the amphibrach: one unstressed syllable + one stressed syllable + one unstressed syllable (v-v)

·         the anapest: two unstressed syllables + one stressed syllable (vv-)

·         the spondee: one stressed syllable (-)

ii. The line is a row of words in a poem made up of one or more feet. For a translator, it is important to render this rhythmical structure because it is the main element of stress. There are seven types of lines, found in both English and Romanian poetry:

·         monometers: one foot

·         dimeters: two feet

·         trimeters: three feet

·         tetrameters: four feet

·         pentameters: five feet

·         hexameters: six feet

·         septameters: seven feet

◙ Identify the type of line used in the following fragments of poems:

a. When you are old and gray and full of sleep,

    And nodding by the fire take down this book… (Yeats)

b. Take her up / tenderly,

     Lift her with care. (Thomas Hood)

c. Long enough your house can held you; up and clear the way. (Swinburne)

d. Best and brightest, come a way!

     Fairer far than this fair Day… (Shelley)

e. Turning,

     Burning,

     Changing,

     Ranging. (J. Addison)

f. ‘Twas sad as sad could be. (Coleridge)

g. What I can ne’er express, yet can not all conceal. (Byron)

Translators should render as faithfully as possible the type of foot and line in a poem, as long as Romanian and English share the same types of foot and lines. There are some differences as far as frequency of use is concerned: English poetry (unlike Romanian poetry) shows preference for the iambus as compared to the trochee; the spondee is rarely used in both English and Romanian poetry; the same is true about monometers.

iii. the stanza  represents a pattern of lines that forms a poem. Although it is not important in point of accentuation, this pattern should be rendered faithfully in the TL.

◙ Comment on the translation of the following Spencerian Stanza, after a close analysis of its structure:

SL

TL

The horrid crags, by toppling convent crown’d,  The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep,  The mountain-moss by scorching skies imbrown’d,  The sunken glen, whose sunless shrubs must weep,  The tender azure of the unruffled deep,  The orange tints that gild the greenest bough,  The torrents that from cliff to valley leap,  The vine on high, the willow branch below, Mix’d in one mighty scene, with varied beauty glow.                                                    (Byron)

Genunea larg cӑscatӑ lȃng-un schit,   Torenţi ce-n muchea stȃncilor se frȃng,   Gorunul peste hӑuri prӑvӑlit,   Adȃnca vale cu arbuşti ce plȃng,   Reflexele-aurii sclipind ȋn crȃng.   Azurul mӑrii, muntele abrupt,   Poieni ce-n jurul culmilor se strȃng,   Podgorii sus şi sӑlcii dedesubt, Se-nvӑlmӑşesc ȋntr-un tablou neȋntrerupt.

  

iv. Scanning is used to identify the feet of a line. In most cases, the ideal main ictus of a poem is not wholly respected as it is counter-pointed either by the syntactical stress or by other foot types. Actually, if the main ictus of a poem were observed to perfection in a poem, that poem would be unbearably monotonous representing only a pattern for scanning, not a work of art.

The translator should be able to identify both the main ictus of the poem and the syntactic counterpoints and then make every effort to render them in the TL. An example of successful translation in point is the following:

SL	TL
A forster was he, soothly, as I guesse. There was also a Nun, a Prioress, That of her smiling was simple and coy; Her greatest oath was but by saint Eloy.                                                    (Chaucer)	Era, bag seamӑ, pӑdurean sadea. Ș-apoi, o maicӑ Starețӑ era; Sfios zȃmbea ea pururi, cu sfinție, Și nu jura decȃt pe sȋnt Elie.                                              (Dan Duțescu)