Bolton, W.F. The Old Icelandic Dróttkvætt

• Author: Bolton, W.F.
• Title: The Old Icelandic Dróttkvætt: A Problem in Verse Translation
• Published in: Comparative Literature 14/3
• Place, Publisher: n/a
• Year: 1962
• Pages: 280-89
• E-text:
• Reference: Bolton, W.F. "The Old Icelandic Dróttkvætt: A Problem in Verse Translation." Comparative Literature 14/3 (1962): 280-89.

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• Key words: poetry, translation (kveðskapur, þýðingar)

Annotation

A translator of poetry is expected to convey explicit and implicit meanings contained in a given poem while at the same time preserving its form. A dróttkvætt verse from Gunnlaugs saga and its numerous translations illustrates the problems encountered by the translator when trying to reconcile the demands of meaning and form. At one point, Bolton refers to the poetry in Egils saga.

Lýsing

Í þýðingum á kveðskap er ætlast til að þýðandinn miðli augljósum og duldum merkingum viðkomandi kvæðis en varðveiti jafnframt form þess. Með því að skoða tiltekna dróttkvæða vísu úr Gunnlaugs sögu og ólíkar þýðingar þess varpar Bolton ljósi á vandamálin sem þýðendur standa frammi fyrir þegar þeir reyna að miðla málum milli kröfunnar um trúleika við bæði merkingu og form. Í umræðu sinni vísar hann á einum stað við kveðskaparins í Egils sögu.

References

Chapter 80: Sonatorrek: „Grief, [Egill] said, made it hard for him to write. Grief did not cause him to write, but he wrote despite grief. The two are opposed. By making his poem Egill conquered his grief: the gift of poesy was “high amends” for his loss, a “fault-free unfailing skill” through which he rendered himself able to meet his fate. The crystallization of emotional experience in an intellectual form enables the poet to transcend that experience“ (p. 284-85).

Links

• Written by: Katelin Parsons
• Icelandic/ translation: Jón Karl Helgason