American Poetry in Translation 3301-LA1203
We will analyze one or two existing Polish translations of an American poem at every class meeting. In addition, we will translate one poem collectively, at the rate of one or two lines per class. Two months before the end of the course, students will receive a selection of poems from which they will choose one to be translated individually. The final grade will reflect the quality of this translation as well as the student's participation in class discussion. The main emphasis is on the practice, and not the theory, of translation. All of the poems we discuss are unrhymed and not in any fixed form. We will ask the following questions about each translation: is it faithful? Does it read well in Polish? What could be improved in it? When we discuss two translations of a given poem, we will also assess which one is better, and why.The course is offered to students well acquainted with vernacular and literary Polish.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
-Students acquire structured basic knowledge of theories of translation and an awareness of the complexity of the translation process;
- Acquire knowledge about planning their own developmental paths
Skills:
- students develop group-working skills;
- learn to evaluate the usefulness of various theoretical concepts in conducting philological research and their various practical applications
Spcial competence:
-students gain an understanding of the ethical aspects of their work.
-awareness of the social significance of their knowledge, work and skills
Bibliography
Emily Dickinson: A Bird Came Down the Walk; commentary and translation by Stanisław Barańczak.
Frank O'Hara: Why I'm Not a Painter; The Day Lady Died; translations by Julia Hartwig and Piotr Sommer.
William Carlos Williams: Spring and All; translation by Józef Wittlin.
T.S.Eliot, The Waste Land (excerpts); translations by Czesław Miłosz and Adam Pomorski.
T.S.Eliot: Eyes I Last Saw in Tears; translations by Adam Pomorski and Michał Sprusiński.
Elizabeth Bishop: At the Fishhouses; translations by Stanisław Barańczak and Andrzej Sosnowski.
John Berryman: Dream Song 4; translation by Piotr Sommer.
Poem translated in clase: Ron Padgett: Stork.