Changes to Poetic Images in Translation

Abstract

It is an oversimplification to state that any poetic image can be literally rendered into another language since there may be changes involved in the translation process. For the translator, it is a matter of import to distinguish between motivated and non-motivated changes. The former being inevitable and the latter are due to insufficient interpretation of the Source Text. The present article investigates those changes by highlighting factors that cause them. The main determinants of such changes are discerned as language, culture and personal aspects.The present study, hence, aims at designing appropriate strategies for translating poetic images. These strategies, however, must not be adopted haphazardly by the translator. They must be careful in resorting to each strategy as much as it effectuates certain criteria dictated by the nature of text, the Source Text and the Target Text reader.