Translation of poetic texts using Adam Mickiewicz’s verses as example: challenges of translating from Polish into Ukrainian

Abstract

The article highlights special features in Ukrainian translations of the poetic legacy of the outstanding Polish poet Adam Mitskevich using as examples some of his odes, poems, and lyric verses in aspects of their sense, expressive, lexical and stylistic interpretation, as the role of translations in the process of safekeeping and multiplying the world cultural legacy is especially important. While adhering to national traditions, Ukrainian translators enrich the treasury of Ukrainian literature, enabling the exchange of cultural values between countries and nations. Ukrainian translations of Adam Mitskevich's poetry are researched by multiple linguists and literary experts, in particular, by I. Franko, M. Vaskiv, V. Gumenuk, L. Markuliak, L. Pshcholovska, M. Strikha, and so on. This research is focused on the review of challenges appearing in the process of Adam Mitskevich's poetry translation, both typical and specific, intrinsic solely to the poems of this famous Polish poet. The paper contains an analysis of pieces of Adam Mickiewicz's works translated by Oleksandr Navrotsky, Myhailo Starytsky, and Mykola Lukash. It also defines the effect of Adam Adam Mickiewicz's poetry on different generations of Ukrainian readers. The article also reviews some of the translational methods and peculiarities of their usage by different translators, in particular of author’s style reproduction, symbols usage, outdated words usage and also appropriate usage of dialectal, and special vocabulary in Polish and Ukrainian, etc. The article defines features, ignoring which results in distortion of senses, and measures the level of translator’s creativity, allowed while working with poetical texts. The author concludes that the Ukrainian treasury of the translated poetic legacy of Adam Mitskevich is rich, but would benefit from new translations of poems both already translated and well-known to readers and new ones that have not found their Ukrainian bards yet.