Assignment 3

 

Analyse the English version of the following poem by Nichita Stănescu. First, you are to analyse the SL poem starting from its integration into a specific literary period and trend, continuing with its integration into Stănescu’s literary work and ending with a detailed analysis of its denotative and connotative content and of its form. Then you have to compare the rendition of all these elements in the TL version.

EVOCARE

de Nichita Stănescu (1979)

Ea era frumoasă ca umbra unei idei, -

a piele de copil mirosea spinarea ei,

a piatră proaspăt spartă

a strigăt dintr-o limbă moartă.

Ea nu avea greutate, ca respirarea.

Râzândă şi plângândă cu lacrimi mari

era sărată ca sarea

slăvită la ospeţe de barbari.

Ea era frumoasă ca umbra unui gând.

Între ape numai ea era pământ.

EVOCATION

(translated by P. Clonţea and C. Miron)

So beautiful was she as an idea’s shade unscathed,

And smelled her nape of babies newly bathed;

of stone which has been newly broken,

of shouting in a language long since spoken.

No weight had she like gentle respiration

Now shedding tears, now smiling bright

And tasted salty like salt in sublimation

Which on his table was the barbarians’ king’s delight.

 So beautiful was she as an idea’s sound.

           Between the seas she was the only ground.