Polish Translations of “The Raven”

Abstract

The article is a comparative analysis of Polish translations of one of the most famous poems in world literature, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven (1845). The author includes the earliest Polish translation (1869), commonly forgotten and underrated because of its prose form. Officially the history of Polish translations of The Raven begins with Miriam’s translation (1886). The author compares and contrasts these translations with the 20^th century translations (Jolanta Kozak, Władysław Kasiński, Maciej Froński, Stanisław Barańczak), rendered both in prose and in verse. In particular, the author focuses on various stylistic devices (the quality of rhymes, alliteration, archaisms), as well as the characteristics of Poe’s text (the theme of hope and death, Gothic and Romantic elements). The modernist translations differ from the contemporary translations in terms of the usage of colours, references to senses, and intertextual allusions. The analysis is supported by a number of theoretical and critical studies by and about the translators mentioned in the article, as well as E.A. Poe’s own essay The Philosophy of Composition, in which Poe offered a study explaining creation of his famous poem.