The free forms of free verse: Walt Whitman's poetry in the hands of Russian translators, 1907-1970.

Abstract

This dissertation offers detailed analyses of five texts by the American poet, Walt Whitman (1819-1892), and nine translations by six Twentieth-Century Russian poets: Bal'mont, Cukovskij, Levik, Marsak, Sluckij, and Zenkevic. Using a theoretical distinction fundamental to the Slavic tradition of verse study, each text was analyzed along two compositional dimensions: syntax, or the patterning of sense units (morpheme, word, phrase, clause, sentence); and rhythm, or the patterning of both prosodic prominences (syllable, word stress, intonational accent and contour) and graphic units (line, stanza). Tracking such a variety of units made it possible (1) to characterize the rhythmic "dominants" of the original texts and translations, whether they used traditional meter or free verse; (2) to describe the ways rhythmic and syntactic groups interacted to create rich artistic meanings, in the originals and the translations; and (3) to pinpoint how transformations in syntactic and rhythmic patterning in some cases created new artistic effects, and in others preserved properties or connotations of the original. These comparisons led to the formulation of a set of translation strategies used by the six poets. Parallelisms in Whitman's syntax tended to be increased, and stylistic idiosyncrasies eliminated, through lexical addition, deletion, substitution, and transposition. Despite these changes, the intonational contours of Whitman's phrases and lines were usually preserved. In the reproduction of verse form, three variables operated at least partly independently of one another: (1) the rhythmic properties of the original text, (2) the stylistic proclivities of the translator, and (3) the aesthetic norms of Russian poetry at the time of translation. Bal'mont and Cukovskij followed their own stylistic inclinations, the former consistently using mixed ternary meters with varying line lengths and the latter avoiding syllabotonic forms altogether. Zenkevic and Levik paid close attention to syllabic-accentual regularities in the original texts and magnified them in their translations. The stylistic norms of Russian poetry significantly influenced translations of Whitman's "Had I the Choice": the free iambs of the original are avoided in all three cases discussed here, apparently because of the classical associations of that metrical form in Russian culture.