Translation Analysis and Assessment of Poetic Translation: Whitman’s Poetry Translated into Albanian

Abstract

Among translation issues, poetry translation is the most problematic area challenging both translators and authorities in the
field of translation studies. Translation of poetry as a yet unanalyzed ‘black box’ has been a much debated issue since olden times, with
many pros and cons and dichotomist reasoning as to its possibility or impossibility. This is due to the high cultural prestige of poetry
which requires time, effort and ingenuity to translate rhythm structures and the figurative language involved. An examination of an actual
instance of Whitman’s poetry translated into Albanian demonstrates that the translation process is guided by case-specific values. These
values, as well as the strategies employed to realize them, are set and agreed by the interested parties during the translation process. In
the present study, Whitman’s LEAVES OF GRASS and its Albanian translation by S. Luarasi will be focused upon and descriptively
analyzed at both linguistic and extra linguistic levels. The aim is to identify the formative elements of versified discourse in the source
and target texts and to arrive at a tentative model of translation analysis which can serve as a measure for
translation assessment of poetic genre.