Chapter 1. Introduction
on Biblical texts, he gives useful observations on equivalence in poetry transla-
tion (1992). More recent books are Koster’s analysis of translation ‘shifts’ between
poetic source and target texts (2000), and Folkart’s comparison of her own and
other translators’ approaches to balancing source-poem faithfulness with target-
poem effectiveness (2007). Among recent shorter but cogently-argued studies are
Osers’ analyses of rhyme (1996, 1998) and Boase-Beier’s analysis of style in po-
etry translation (2004).
Other text-based analyses use poetry translation data to illustrate wider argu-
ments of translation theory. Dryden’s three “types” of translation (metaphrase,
paraphrase and imitation: 1680/2006), for example, were based on poetry transla-
tion; poetry data supports Venuti’s influential claims about the political implica-
tions of “fluent” vs. “foreignizing” translation approaches (1995); and poetry
translations inform Tymoczko’s study of how translation helps construct national
identity (1999). These analyses too can support further poetry translation research,
particularly in linking poetry translation into a broader theoretical framework.1.2.3 The wider view
In recent decades, scholarly writing about poetry translating has been dominated
by relatively small-scale studies (with Koster 2000 and Folkart 2007 as honourable
exceptions), or by studies (like Venuti 1995) that use poetry data for general rather
than poetry-specific purposes. Despite the seeming embarrassment of riches de-
scribed above, therefore, we miss an overview of the different potential aspects of
poetry translators’ action.
Small-scale studies and those focusing on specific issues, of course, can be put
together, like the stones in a mosaic, to give a wider picture (Abramson 1992; Yin
2003). However, apart from encyclopaedia articles such as those by D. Connolly
(1998) and Boase-Beier (2009), relatively few such mosaics have been assembled
for poetry translation. The 1970s saw two books, by Lefevere (1975) and De
Beaugrande (1978), which did aim to set up general models of poetry translation.
These, however, were written before the late-1980s shift in translation studies to-
wards viewing translation as not just a textual act, but also a psychological and a
social one. Since then, to my knowledge, no book-length studies in English have
attempted to give an overview of poetry translation under a single narrative arch.
The present book goes a good way towards filling this gap by drawing a wider
picture of poetry translation in textual, psychological and social terms, bringing
different research studies into a single narrative. Its data are largely process-orient-
ed, but it also has a firm product-oriented base. Analyses are supported by the
previous poetry translation research outlined above, and the whole is embedded
in early 21st-century translation theory and scholarship.