Vera Rich As a Translator of Taras Shevchenko: Working

Home , Taras Shevchenko, Vera Rich

Vera Rich jako tłumaczka Tarasa Szewczenko dokładności: semantycznej irytmicznej większej do Dążeniu Towards Greater Semantic and Rhythmic Accurateness Vera aTranslator Rich as of Taras Shevchenko: Working inscribed with 8lines frominscribed Shevchenko’s anti-imperialist “ poem In particular, it on Taras focuses the Shevchenko Memorial inWashington, D.C., throughviewed prism the of George Steiner’s of hermeneutic theory motion. lyzes self-editing as an integral and never-ending stage of translation the process, “Кобзар” collection poetry endeavourthe to give English the readers acomplete version of Shevchenko’s works of Ukrainian Romantic and artist Taras poet Shevchenko (1814‒1861)in sible ideal” (inher own words). translating Rich had been and retranslating the at attaining greater semantic accuracy, oftenwhich turns outbe to “an impos- nameher pen Vera, and pivotal the of her aspects translation strategy oriented British journalist and poet-translator Faith Joan Elizabeth Rich, better known by interanimacjaruch, maczenie, autokorekta, semantyczna, wiersza, trafność hermeneutyczny rytm rhythmic pattern, semantic accurateness, hermeneutic motion, interanimation in the translationin the by Vera Rich. It compares also translation strategies of Ethel This article considers particular nodal points This considersarticle translationalthenodal in particular career of Abstract Taras Szewczenko, Vera Rich, wierszowe tłumaczenie, ponownie tłu- Słowa kluczowe Taras Shevchenko, Vera Rich, verse translation, retranslation, self-editing, Keywords (“The (“The Kobzar”). The thisdiscussionarticle in ana- T aras Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… S hevchenko N a tional U niversit Lada Kolomiyets The Caucasus” The y

of K yiv , U kraine

Artykuły i rozprawy Lilian Voynich and Vera Rich – two congenial interpretators of Shevchenko’s poem “Testament” in their striving to reflect the Ukrainian poet’s soul, mir- ror his recognizable identity, and animate in English the ST dynamic fusion of meaning and sound, verse and style. Abstrakt Niniejszy artykuł odnosi się do kluczowych momentów w karierze brytyjskiej dziennikarki, poetki i tłumaczki Faith Elizabeth Joan Rich, znanej pod pseudo- nimem Vera. Przede wszystkim skupia się na istotnych aspektach jej strategii tłumaczeniowej, ukierunkowanej na osiągnięcie jak największej dokładności semantycznej, co według jej własnych słów, często okazuje się być „niemożli- wym ideałem”. Rich tłumaczyła i wielokrotnie poprawiała swoje tłumaczenia ukraińskiego poety romantycznego i artysty Tarasa Szewczenki (1814‒1861), nie ustając w swoich wysiłkach aby dać angielskim czytelnikom pełną wersję jego wierszy zgromadzonych w tomie „Кобзар” („The Kobzar”). Artykuł podejmuje temat autokorekty, postrzeganej poprzez pryzmat teorii hermeneutycznej ruchu George’a Steinera, jako integralnego i niekończącego się etapu w procesie tłu- maczenia. Szczególnej analizie została tutaj poddana ośmiowersowa inskrypcja, która znajduje się na pomniku Tarasa Szewczenki w Waszyngtonie. Jest to frag- ment jego antyimperialistycznego poematu „Kaukaz” w tłumaczeniu Very Rich. Artykuł porównuje również strategie tłumaczeniowe Ethel Lilian Voynich i Very Rich – dwóch kongenialnych interpretatorek wiersza Szewczenki „Testament”, które dążyły do tego aby odzwierciedlić ducha ukraińskiego poety, jego rozpo- znawalną tożsamość i ożywić w języku angielskim dynamiczną fuzję znaczenia

Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły i dźwięku, wiersza i stylu oryginału.

44 Lada Kolomiyets ious contemporaries: lamenting fate the Ukraine, of post-Cossack he opposes himself to his obliv- poem’sThe persona dreams of restoring truth, this reviving it again. Bitterly thers and about truth the themselves as descendants the of glory. Cossack had already forgotten him,just had forgotten as they heroic their grandfa- voice would probably not heard be by his fellow Perhaps, countrymen. they inbygoneas asymbol of glory Cossack times. mans, administrative the and centre political of Ukraine during 1648‒1660, apostrophe to city the of former the Chyhyryn, residency of Ukrainian Het- Moscow, is dated 19February 1844.It is persona’s composed as speaking the andlection 2007edition. inthe then The autographwritten poem, the in of (“Chyhyryn, OChyhyryn!”), published in her translation 1961col in the - quoteI will an excerpt from Shevchenko’s “Чигрине, poem Чигрине…” mantic accurateness and correspondence lexico-syntactic to source the text, a telling example of Rich’s scrupulous self-editing work towards greater- se hard equally totrying recreate its semantic integrity and conciseness. As awarda special from President the of Ukraine in2007. of Shevchenko and other acknowledged were Ukrainian poets confirmed by “Кобзар” finishthe complete translation legacy, poetic of his titlethe under collected untimely death from cancer on 2009broke 29December offRich’s plans to Ukrainian Romantic Taras poet Shevchenko for more thanyears. fifty Her direct Ukrainian translation of Faith), translating had been works the of vocate of Ukrainian and Belorussian cultures name (her pen Vera is the known 2009),also as human1936 –20December rights activist and ad - Lada Kolomiyets 1. Working Towards Greater Accurateness Semantic and Rhythmic The importance self-editingThe importance of The poet addressespoet ThefromUkraine adistant foreignland from where his Always British journalist and poet-translator Faith Joan Elizabeth Rich (24 April (“The (“The Kobzar”). Yet her credentials as an accomplishedtranslator В калюжі, в болотісерце прогноїла зацвіла, Бур’яном укрилась, цвіллю Вкраїна, заснула Марно трачу; сльози А я,юродивий, на твоїх руїнах remaining faithful to source the text’s harmony, vocal Rich was Vera asaTranslator Rich of Taras Shevchenko: Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… 45

Artykuły i rozprawy І в дупло холодне гадюк напустила, А дітям надію в степу оддала. А надію… Вітер по полю розвіяв, Хвиля морем рознесла1.

The 1961 version of this excerpt by Rich is as follows:

And I, on thy ruins, demented, remain And uselessly pour out my tears. But Ukraine Has fallen asleep, mould-grown, covered in weeds, Set her heart there to rot in the mud, in a puddle, Let in poisonous snakes to a tree-trunk’s cold hollow, To her children a hope in the steppe she bequeathed, But that hope… The wind scattered over the plain, The waves swept it over the seas2.

In the 2007 version, only the last three lines of this verse remained non-edited:

And I, on thy ruins, demented, stand weeping – My tears are all vain. Ukraina is sleeping, Now wild weeds cover her, mould has grown over, She has rotted her heart in a pool in the marshes, Into cold hollow tree let a snake pass in,

Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły To her children a hope in the steppe she bequeathed, But that hope… The wind scattered over the plain, The waves swept it over the seas3.

The translator’s carving of images has undergone significant changes in the newer edition towards greater similarity with the ST condensed wording (as show the changes in the phrase “uselessly pour out my tears” to “my tears are all vain”), as well as towards the clarity of expression. Take for instance such epithets as “mould-grown, covered in weeds”, each one unfolds in the newer version into a clause of the asyndetic compound sentence: “Now wild weeds cover her, mould has grown over”. And the verbal ornamentation appears essentially simplified to correspond better with the clear-cut expres- 1 T. Шевченко, Чигрине, Чигрине… [in:] Зібрання творів: У 6 т. Т. 1: Поезія 1837‒ 1847, Київ 2003, pp. 254‒255. 2 T. Shevchenko, Song out of Darkness, London 1961, p.23. 3 T. Shevchenko, The Rusalka (translation) by Vera Rich – Allpoetry, [in:] http://www. allpoetry.com/…/3462574-Taras-Shevchenko--translation--THE-RUSAL… [5 Jan 2016].

46 Lada Kolomiyets Prometheus, at Taras the Shevchenko Memorial, dedicated to 150 the ton, D.C., as an inscription on granite the stela adorned with arelief of lated by Rich, has gone down of history inthe USA Capital, the Washing - sion 1)and compare lines: the “Set her there heart to rot mud, inthe inapuddle” sive reliefs of that so ST the prolixity otiose the imagery should go away. Just experience ofexperience apathy human inthe heart. ity of symbol, i.e. its ability to conventionally express quintessence the of the image overly had been fleshed (“atree-trunk’s cold hollow”) losingthe - qual criteriathe for becoming acatchphrase, previous inthe while version the Butsenses. only newer the version for it, “cold hollow tree”, would meet fully Ukrainian symbolizingrary an indifferent, unconcernedwith vanishedheart phoric expression холодне” “дупло has become acatchphrase incontempo - cold hollow tree let a snake pass in” “Let inpoisonous snakes to atree-trunk’s cold hollow” (version 1)and 2. apostrophe to fighters the forfreedom their of Motherland has found its ad- associatedvirtues with and personal communal opposition to slavery. His image of tortured Prometheus at as well of as the beginning the poem, the for freedomstruggle andhuman sacrificial their dignity, symbolized the by shortly“The afterCaucasus”. Ukraine, and Living, Dead as yet Unborn My Friendly Epistle”), written моїм…”землякам (“To My Fellow-Countrymen, inUkraine and Not in “Імертвим, іживим, ненарожденним ascountrymen, he poem didinthe occupation. And more broadly, Shevchenko was appealing his fellow to all overascendancy invaders the longstanding intheir resistance to Russian ple of Caucasus the evincing an indomitable had who been spirit and moral sion to Caucasus, the and in a broader freedom-loving to sense, those - peo Yakiv during aRussian was (1813‒1845),who killed deBalmen mis- military In anarrow was dedicated to poem the Shevchenko’s sense, friend personal made afar-reaching impact on Ukrainian literary, cultural, and life. political advancement of Ukrainian Romanticism on world the map literary and has 1845. ThisRomantic masterpiece been paramounthasof importance forthe ofversary Shevchenko’s birth. Translation engraved instone One particular poem by Shevchenko, poem Caucasus”), One particular (“The “Кавказ” trans - In “The Caucasus”, In “The Shevchenkoglorifies the “great-hearted heroes” of Written town inthe of Pereyaslav,Caucasus” “The is dated 18November “She has rotted marshes” inthe her ina pool heart Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… (version 2).In author’s the fact, - meta (version 2), th anni- “Into “Into (ver - 47

Artykuły i rozprawy dressees across countries and continents, just as it has across the years of humiliation and repression in present-day Ukraine. The bronze statue of Shevchenko, sculpted by Leo Mol, a noted Ukrain- ian Canadian artist, was placed on its pedestal on the 2200 block of P Street NW in Washington, D.C., on 3 June 1964, and the ceremony of unveiling took place on 27 June. The Memorial is maintained by the U.S. Federal Gov- ernment. On its stela, eight lines from “The Caucasus” in Rich’s translation have been engraved: …Our soul shall never perish, Freedom knows no dying, And the greedy cannot harvest Fields where seas are lying; Cannot bind the living spirit, Nor the living word, Cannot smirch the sacred glory Of th’almighty Lord. The picture of the inscription4 on the Shevchenko Memorial in Washing- ton, D.C., is given below in Figure 1: Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły

Figure 1. The quotation from “The Caucasus” engraved on the Shevchenko Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Ukrainian source text of the 8-line quotation from “The Caucasus” engraved on the stela reads: 4 Tim, Memorial Monday: Taras Shevchenko. The 42 Bus Blog. Feb 13, 2012, [in:] the- 42bus.blogspot.com/2012/02/memorial-monday-taras-shevchenko.html [17 Jan 2017].

48 Lada Kolomiyets engraving by “th’almighty Lord” greedy” stela) inthe and “Of inline 8speaks almighty God”, replaced inthe “ corrected, internationalized version of 1961edition, the inline which 3reads 5 7 6 text, he inwhich juxtaposes “great-hearted the heroes” to tsars: satirized the personathe shifts to acontrary addressee ina totally different semantic con- boredom, envy, or spite. And immediately after such a bitter “glorification”, as well as that of entire the conquered and enslaved nations of because mere lickspittles to willing shed innocent the of peasant blood their bondslaves, persona sarcastically “glorifies” autocratic Russian Tsars theirand countless of perspective surroundingthe the context. Prior to place, this speaking the example of Rich’s self-editorial work, consider Iwill changes inline 61from from 1961edition the only inthree places (inlines 61,162and 164).As an Rich’s satisfaction with its quality, initial namely, 2007version the differs almost without change 1961and inthe both 2007collections, indicating problematics and compositiontranslation This of poem. this was reprinted Ukrainian Review”, together with translator’s the analitycal essay about the was first publishedthe 1959 in spring issue the of quarterly“The magazine T. T. T. T. And Glutton the cannot harvest” (“the Glutton” would changed be into “the 2003, p. 343. 2003, p. 344. T. Shevchenko, Song out of Darkness, London 1961,p. 69. The above English quotation, engraved the on stela, a is actually slightly Шевченко, Шевченко, Великого Бога Не понесе Бога, слави І слова живого. живої Не душі скує На дніморя поле. не виоре І неситий Не воля. вмирає наша, Не душа вмирає І воля святая! слава вас за правда, За вас Вам Бог помагає! Борітеся —поборете, Богом не забуті. лицаріІ вам, великі, Кригою окуті. синігори, слава, І вам Кавказ Кавказ , , [in:] [in:] 7 5 . Зібрання творів: У6т.Т. 1:Поезія 1837‒1847,Київ Зібрання творів: У6т.Т. 1:Поезія 1837‒1847,Київ 6 . In Rich’s fact, translation of “ Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… The Caucasus” The

Artykuły i rozprawy Rich’s latest translation of this excerpt is as follows: And glory to you, dark-blue mountains, Frost and snow protect you; And to you, great-hearted heroes, God does not forget you. Battle on – and win your battle! God Himself will aid you; At your side fight truth and glory, Right and holy freedom8. In comparison with this version, the line “Battle on – and win your battle!” sounded as “Struggle on – and be triumphant!” in the previous, 1961 edition9. It is obvious that Shevchenko’s aphoristic, inspiring apostrophe to the fighters for freedom “Борітеся – поборете” is better rendered in the later version, where it fully preserves the ST aphoristic style and balanced form. A funny episode, connected with the erection of the monument to Shevchenko in Washington, D.C. and an excerpt from “The Caucasus” in Rich’s translation, engraved on the Memorial stela, is well described by the translator herself in a narrative poem “Accident of Birth”. The poem humor- ously dwells on hasty pre-arrangements of the Memorial unveiling ceremony, the governmental-level bureaucracy and the officials’ apprehension concern- ing the translator’s non-US citizenship and her “improper” birthplace in this respect. To give the reader a glimpse of the real historic events and a flavour of Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły Rich’s ironic “autobiographical” style and her sense of humour clothed in verse, I’ll quote below a substantial part of the poem, which tells a real story: when the statue of Shevchenko was to be erected in Washigton, D.C., the US officials addressed Rich with “a courteous request” to permit the engraving there of a quotation from her translation of “The Caucasus”, and of course she gave her permission, and a check for a hundred dollars was immediately sent to her (big royalties in those days), but suddenly – when the statue was in place and soon would be unveiled by ex-President Eisenhower – “a doubt assailed some well-meaning Congressman”: …the statue was to stand There in the US Capital, set upon public land, So was it right a foreign poet should translate the verse For such a monument especially as (which made it worse) “The Caucasus” had been translated too by Clarence Manning, A US academic? Well, it was too late for banning

8 T. Shevchenko, Selected Poems. Paintings. Graphic Works, Kyiv, 2007, рр. 289, 291. 9 Ibidem, p. 70.

50 Lada Kolomiyets distress”: don hospital, where she born, she added, “just man’s had the been to ease with States, the “to record the set right”; giving address himthe of Lon the - Congress and asked if there was any way she could claim some connection from Shevchenko from verses, according to her own words, preface inthe of to her book selections language (“Ruthenian tongue”) and freedom-loving the spirit of Shevchenko’s personality was genuinely attracted to “the haunting music” of Ukrainian the known(best for her novel Gadfly”), translator, and “The whose charismatic Ethel Voynich Lilian (1864‒1960),anoted Anglo-Irish musician, novelist and herself apoet-translator. Adistant could parallel only drawn be with vested by Rich reader: inthe And option the ryphal. to it whether believe or not, is playfully and merrily relieved, he “gushedto worry; his happy thanks”. This story be must- apoc 10 3. 13 12 11 the Russianthe Empire. In particular, she learnt Ukrainian and rendered several ment of Russian Narodniks, Voynich showed interest inSlavic literature in Ibidem. Ibidem. “Testament” Voynich two congenial and Rich: interpretators of Shevchenko’s Merchant Kalashnikov from the Russian of Mikhail Lermontov, London 1911,p. 5. E. L.Voynich, Six from lyrics the Ruthenian of Taras Shevchenko, also TheSong of the V. Rich, http://www.allpoetry.com/Vera_Rich (14Jan 2016). In ironic this manner, tells that Rich further somebody phoned her from Rich stands out among translators the of Shevchenko, as awoman both Thus, formally,Rich was “US-born”.Congressmanthe so And didn’t need Vera Rich –poet at allpoetry. Do IcomeDo from The America? answer’s up to you! withoutThisis, story deception, absolutelytrue. A USladies’Daughters “The guild: theRevolution of Maintained moreover by (and might this well prove solution) the Was named after your founding President,George Washington, You can tell Congressman the ward the where Iwas born The wardwhere Mother should have free,goneso surely bed had no …But you know, Iarrived because prematurely, Already. some way So protest the haddeflected to be The use of translation,my forthe statue was erected 13 . Afterbecoming the to close pro-revolutionary move- Poems by Vera Rich. Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… All poetry of Vera Rich, [in:] 12 10 11 . . 51

Artykuły i rozprawy poems of Shevchenko into English verse, which were issued by an authori- tative British publisher and bookseller Charles Elkin Mathews in London in 1911, together with the Preface and a biographical sketch about Shevchenko, written by Voynich, and a historical poem in folk style by Mikhail Lermontov, under the title “Six lyrics from the Ruthenian of Taras Shevchenko, also The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov from the Russian of Mikhail Lermontov”. Voynich had selected for the collection those short and powerful poems that she considered worthy to represent a noted poet, namely, in the order of appearance in the book: “Минають дні, минають ночі…” (“From day to day, from night to night…”), a lyrical introduction to the poem “Княжна” (“The Princess”) – “Зоре моя вечірняя…” (“Only friend, clear evening twi- light…”), “Косар” [“Понад полем іде…”] (“The Reaper” [“Through the field the reaper goes…”]), “Заповіт” (“Dig my grave and raise my barrow…”), “Мені однаково, чи буду…” (“I care not, shall I see my dear…”), “Минули літа молодії” (“Winter” [“Thy youth is over…”]). In fact, Voynich sounded overly self-critical in the assessment of her own translation work, as it is often the case with highly gifted and sensitive poets-translators: “No reader can feel more acutely than myself how far they lag behind the originals”, she wrote in the Preface. “Especially do I feel it with regard to the six lyrics from Shevchenko …”14. She even admitted, “had Shevchenko written in a language as accessible to most English readers as French or German, this volume would perhaps not have been published”15. The sense of duty had been the main reason for her translation work, and it

Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły should have justified, in her view, the imperfection of her translation endeavour, since “it seems hard that he [Shevchenko] should go untranslated while waiting for the perfect rendering which may never come” 16. It is noteworthy that Voynich happened to be too humble and mistaken when she underesti- mated the results of her translation work having called them “inadequate” in the Preface, – but only because she was clairvoyantly aware of Shevchenko’s enduring greatness through the ages: “Inadequate as are these few specimens, they show some dim shadow of the mind of a poet who has done for the Dnieper country what Burns did for Scotland”17. Voynich began translating Shevchenko’s poetry back in the 1890s, though she ventured to release a collection of his works only twenty years later – on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the poet’s death. Not only was she among the first promoters of Shevchenko in the English-speaking world, but thanks to her poetic genius the English readers also discovered the musical- 14 Ibidem. 15 Ibidem. 16 Ibidem, p. 6 17 Ibidem.

52 Lada Kolomiyets the earlythe 20 women-poets: Voynich, effectively who launched British Shevchenkiana in Shevchenko’s most “Заповіт” popular (“The poem, Testament”), twoby through Ukrainiantic auspices the poet of Voynich’s creative reception. newer versions. And evenmore so, people continue to discover Roman this - appreciate her interpretations artistic of Shevchenko incomparison with ity and beauty powerful of Shevchenko’s verses. Alot of highly people still Ukrainian town of Pereyaslav. cite Iwill poem-testament this below: when oflost all its relevance and value. renderingas best the or of at poem, this least as one the that definitely has not minimum, free. too Moreover, it is often recommended the to general public equate for present-day requirements translation, for inaddition, poetry at emotionally generally appealing, find thoughsomewhat experts it inad- iswhich commonly considered by public the at large as quite adequate and her translation of “The Testament” (“Dig gravemy and raise barrow…”),my easiest the tocollection, find theand popular most among Internet readers is found on Internet. the published sixpoems the Ofall afore-mentioned inthe It would worthwhile be to compare, for instance, translation the of The sourceThe text datedis which 1845, thedateis December to close 25 Today translations of Shevchenko by Voynich are and digitized can be “The Caucasus” “The waswritten, same:the the and the wasplace still І мене великій, всем’ї Волю окропіте. І вражою злою кров’ю порвітеКайдани Поховайте вставайте, та Я не Бога. знаю Молитися… адо того До самого Бога покину,Все іполину ігориІ лани – Кров ворожу… отойді я У синєє море Як понесе з України ревучий. Як реве Було видно, було чути, ікручі І Дніпро, широкополі, лани Щоб милій, На Вкраїні широкого степу Серед Мене на могилі Як умру, то поховайте th century, andit early boosted inthe Rich, who 21 Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… st century. 53

Artykuły i rozprawy В сем’ї вольній, новій, Не забудьте пом’янути Незлим тихим словом18. The translation by Voynich, first published in 1911, is as follows: Dig my grave and raise my barrow By the Dnieper-side In Ukraina, my own land, A fair land and wide. I will lie and watch the cornfields, Listen through the years To the river voices roaring, Roaring in my ears.

When I hear the call Of the racing flood, Loud with hated blood, I will leave them all, Fields and hills; and force my way Right up to the Throne Where God sits alone; Clasp His feet and pray… But till that day What is God to me?

Bury me, be done with me, Rise and break your chain, Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły Water your new liberty With blood for rain. Then, in the mighty family Of all men that are free Maybe, sometimes, very softly You will speak of me?19 Rich entitled her translation “Testament” in the 1961 volume, but in the 2007 book edition she didn’t give it a separate title at all; instead she placed the poem in the table of contents by the first line “When I die, then make my grave…” though in Ukrainian it is commonly known as “Заповіт” (“Zapovit” [“Testament”]). Further follows the text of her translation, which in the later collection remained identical with the first book print in 1961:

18 T. Шевченко, Як умру, то поховайте … (Заповіт), [in:] Зібрання творів: У 6 т. Т. 1: Поезія 1837‒1847, Київ 2003, р. 371. 19 E.L.Voynich, Six lyrics from the Ruthenian of Taras Shevchenko, also The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov from the Russian of Mikhail Lermontov, London 1911, pp. 31‒32.

54 Lada Kolomiyets chaic tetrameter alternating with trochaic trimeter. With each trochaic foot tonality pattern aims to detail. balance with fidelity the poetic to reproductionthe line-for-line accurate, fidelity the cadenceto rhythm and of reproducing form the of ST the as closely as possible together with making tail. In version the by translation Rich, whose work was governed by ideal the line,melodic its and pace phonics, prevails over fidelity the semantic to de- approaches to fidelitytranslation. in the In version by Voynich,the fidelity to one differences can the trace earlythe between 20 “ articlebythis verses the “Roaring and Groaning RollsDnipro…” the and three-dimensional faithfulness of Rich’s translations was earlier illustrated in iswhich well-balanced interms of fidelity to meaning, verse, and style. The testifies translator’sthe to poem this satisfaction with her previous work, 20 O my thoughts, my heartfelt thoughts, Iam troubled for you…”

Poems. Paintings. Graphic Works, Kyiv 2007,p. 321. T. Shevchenko, Song out of Darkness, London 1961,p. 85;T. Shevchenko, Selected The scansionThe of “Заповіт” fits naturally into patternthe metrical of tro- In above the versions of Shevchenko’s “Testament” by Voynich and Rich, that The fact no changes have introducedbeen theedition to newer of Speak quietlySpeak of me notDo forget, intent with good A family and new free, thatThen in great family, Of foemen’s veins! evil Bless your freedom with blood the Sundering your chains, Make my grave there –and arise, knowI shall naught of God. make myI’ll prayer. For that till hour Before throne the of God Leave behind, up soar all until Wheatland and forever: hills leaveThethen of – blood foemen I’ll It bears infierce endeavour Till from Ukraine to blue the sea River roar. wildly Therewhence one may thehear blustering Dnipro’s steep-cliffed shore, Whence one wheatland, may wide-skirted see In steppeland without bound: In my own beloved Ukraine, High on an ancient mound, When Idie, make then my grave 20 . Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… th and early 21 st century 55

Artykuły i rozprawy having the rhythmic pattern of stressed (΄) – unstressed (ˇ) syllable, here is how this verse cadence schematically looks in general:

΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ &c.

In Shevchenko, the lexical stress, or acoustic stress, of a syllable in a word, does not always coincide with the metrical stress based both on mono- and multisyllabic words, that which is normal for versification. Moreover, artfully placed, deliberate mismatches between the abstract metrical stress and the word or phrasal accent create an impression of conversational style of intonation – this unrepeatable feature of Shevchenko’s versificatory manner. The latter also excels in sporadic replacement of a regular trochaic or iambic foot at the beginning of poetic line with a pyrrhic metrical unit consisting of two unstressed syllables, which imparts a conversational tone to the verse. In “Заповіт”, as elsewhere in Shevchenko’s verses, not all the lines are necessarily read uniformly, within the preset prosodic boundaries, or should be read so – to a monotonous regular beat. On the contrary, the meter could be read alternatively in separate lines. Depending on the word accent and intonation pattern, the alternative scantion that I suggest, in particular, for Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły line 2 reads the meter as amphibrachic dimeter (a metrical line composed of two feet, each consisting of unstressed-stressed-unstressed syllables) with a caesura between the feet:

ˇ ΄ ˇ || ˇ ΄ ˇ

The caesura at an unexpected point (where it actually detaches the prep- osition from the noun in spite of the presupposed phrasal unity of the prep- ositional phrase “на могилі”), allows the poem’s speaker to distinguish the noun itself and put the intonational emphasis on it. The caesura implies here a natural pause in the poetic diction needed to zoom in on a very important object, visualized in the speaker’s imagination as his burial place: Як умру, то поховайте Мене на || могилі

“Могила” in Shevchenko means an ancient burial mound heaped of earth and stones and erected high over the steppeland, a sacred grave where

56 Lada Kolomiyets honor on on honor 1861. And on 8May, that same year, his remains were re-buried with great in almost two months afterpoet’sthe death in St. Petersburg on 10 March buriedin his belovedbe Ukraine, on top of amound. was executed Thiswill found rest. eternal their Shevchenko bequeathed to that his friends he should tombsthe forefathers of Cossack the and later themselves Cossacks the had extra unstressedextra syllable(“Water //With your liberty new for blood rain”): lation by atwo-beat line with second the pyrrhic foot, ends which with the STthe trochaic inline trimeter 4of third the stanza, preceded inher trans- line with 3ictus (beats) solely. And she once substituted iambic dimeter for entirethe – in favor second of stanza part middle poem) (the the of a shorter verse lines, though Voynich from departed strategy of the alternating lines in its trochaic cadence,served together with alternation the of 4-beat and 3-beat bittered. mirrors inrhythms moments the and his wasspirit when heart grieved em- folkloreies the form. Introduced ballad by Shevchenko, verse this pattern Shevchenko’s trochaic prosody alternating 4-beat and 3-beat verse lines var ter alternating with trochaic trimeter, Ischematically which showed above. turns pattern, to poet same the the metrical poems, i.e. trochaic tetrame- persona’s pensive and melancholic three the In of mood. in all those fact, meter –for reason the that its downward beat (΄ (“When I die, make then my grave…”), Shevchenko resorts to trochaic the thoughts, my heartfelt thoughts, Ihave, all mine only!”), as well as “Заповіт” I am troubled for you…”) мої, мої, and вимої “Думи думи єдині…” мої, лихомої, думи мені” з вами… “ and iambic with trimeter or without it (as quoted inthe earlier excerpt from witched”), or iambic between tetrameter with an unstressed extra syllable стогнета Дніпр широкий…” from “Introduction” the - “Be to ballad the trameter without such atruncated foot (as cited inthe earlier “Реве lyrics eter with an unstressed extra syllable of feminine the ending and iambic te- terns and, above meter, on all, aballad alternating iambic between tetram- townthe of Kaniv, mound and atall was over raised his chamber. burial The Caucasus”).The Both VoynichBoth stratagem this and of Rich observed “Заповіт” and pre- Yet inhis melancholic such poems, as afore-mentioned the lyrical “Думи Shevchenko’s verses for most the are part on iambic based pat - metrical Chernecha Hora (now ˇ ΄| ΄ ˇ| Tarasova Hora Tarasova Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… (“ O my thoughts, my heartfelt thoughts, ) by River, Dnieper the near ˇ )indicates speaking the (“O my - 57

Artykuły i rozprawy If compared with the rendering by Voynich, the second pyrrhic foot is also noticeable in line 3 of this stanza in the ST. Moreover, it appears in the next line as well. Besides, an inversion of the first foot in line 3 from trochaic to iambic meter imparts conversational intonation to the scantion (“І вражою злою кров’ю // Волю окропіте”): ˇ ΄ | ˇ ˇ | ΄ ˇ | ΄ ˇ ΄ ˇ | ˇ ˇ |΄ ˇ Frequent occurrence of meter inversions in Shevchenko is a feature and finesse of his verses, in which many a line could be scanned in one of several ways – depending on intonational and logical emphasis. Apart from the ease of Shevchenko’s poetic diction, perfectly rendered by Voynich in “The Testament”, her interpretation in places oversimplified the ST semantic content, as it does in the above-cited lines, where the poem’s persona alludes to “the blood of foemen’s evil veins” (in Rich’s translation). Shevchenko employs the epithet “foemen’s” of the noun “blood” twice in the poem: “кров ворожу” and “вражою злою кров’ю”. These two allusive refer- ences echo each other, and so do they in the translation by Rich: “the blood of foemen” and “the blood of foemen’s evil veins”. However, the implied meaning of the epithet “ворожа” (кров) is diverted in Voynich insomuch as she first shifts the meaning of “ворожа” (кров) to the adjective “hated” (blood) and then omits the epithet in front of the noun “blood” altogether. Mean- while throughout the entire “Kobzar” and in various juxtaposed contexts,

Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły Shevchenko symbolically opposes the biblical concept of “the innocent blood” to the concept of “evil”, “rotten”, and “poisoned blood”, as he does for instance in “The Caucasus” and particularly in his earlier poem “Chyhyryn, O Chy- hyryn!”, where he confronts each with the other – “the poisoned blood” of his contemporaries, the Cossacks’ offspring, who had become the corrupted landlords, and the incorruptible and, thus, healing and valorous “Cossack blood”. Shevchenko’s Romantic ideal of transfusion of the “living Cossack blood” into a “sickly heart” of depressed Ukraine associates the former with the biblical concept of the “holy, clean and pure” blood, which, in the poet’s view, symbolizes a return to the gospel truth for his fellow-countrymen and a revival for Ukraine. And here is a quote from “Chyhyryn, O Chyhyryn!” where the poem’s persona confides a dream that his bitter tears would ...... grow Into two-edged blades That will cleave the evil, rotten Sickly heart, will drain From it all the poisoned blood,

58 Lada Kolomiyets veins!” Волю окропіте” as “Bless your //Offoemen’s freedom with blood the evil makethen my grave…”) she rendered lines the “Івражою злою кров’ю // Shevchenko. “The poem, And particular inthis Testament” (“When Idie, symbolic opposition cyclical the of “holy the blood” to “evil the blood” in gelical symbolism down anotch to exhortations to socio-national liberation. sourcethe meaning far, too –it only moved its level of abstraction from evan- tocloser its folklore provenance, inany choice the case, by Rich didnot shift my view, Shevchenko’s semantics of adjective the “вражою” was poem inthis “foemen’s”, and translator the had opted for latter the meaning. Whereas, in ing “evil”, “wicked”, “blackhearted”, though its broader meaning literary is functionswhich as astanding epithet Ukrainian inthe folklore mean inthe - “highness”, and points to spiritual ascendance. overhigh land the or aplain. It has a meaning of “elevation”, “eminence”, earlier, “могила” inShevchenko is a symbolic and sacred place, built a hill as “Dig my grave and raise my barrow //By Dnieper-side”. the As Iexplained ning lines of poem the blood. concept of “liberty…of men that all are free” as washed being respective lines (“Water // With your liberty new for blood rain”) refers to the draining “the of blood foemen’s veins”, evil Voynich inher rendering of the 22 21 T. T. Poems. Paintings. Graphic Works, Kyiv 2007,p. 171. T. Shevchenko, Song out of Darkness, London 1961,p. 24;T. Shevchenko, Selected 1837‒1847, Київ2003,p. 255. Having translated almost entire the “Kobzar”, Rich was well aware of In Ukrainian the source text: When Rich alludes to concept the of “freedom” that is sanctified Another biasing reference inVoynich, worth mentioning,- is begin the Шевченко,

Possessive noun “foemen’s” stands here for adjective the “вражою”, Чистої, святої!!! Козацької тіїкрові, живої І наллють сукровату, І вицідять Гниле серце, трудне… Розпанахають погане, Ножі обоюдні, …………і виростуть Holy, clean and pure! Into it living blood, Cossack And inits pour place will Чигрине, Чигрине… [in:] “Як умру, то поховайте //Мене на могилі” rendered 22 21 Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… Зібрання творів: У6т.Т. 1:Поезія The poem’sThe persona asks his with (“hated”) through 59

Artykuły i rozprawy friends to bury him “on the mound”, that is, on the summit, or topmost point, of the hill. In Rich these lines read: “When I die, then make my grave // High on an ancient mound”. They sound in unison with the ST landscape picture, seen from the persona’s perspective of looking over a vast area of land from above. Meanwhile, Voynich begins the poem with a powerful (metrically stressed) imperative verb “dig”, which indicates the downward movement and – counter to the ST symbolism – evokes the image of descending. To sum up my brief comparative analysis of Shevchenko’s key poem in the interpretation of two outstanding women-poets, distanced from each other by almost a hundred years, I’d like to pinpoint that the classical, iconic rendering by Voynich prioritizes the brevity and pithiness of Shevchenko’s poetic line, and because of that it admits a sweeping generalization of poetic detail. It perfectly falls into a generic pattern of rendering, which puts an emphasis on the musicality and eurhythmy of a poem and is not as tightly bound to its semantic detail as a translation proper should be. Rich, for her part, has never prioritized sound orchestration over verbal accurateness but intended to re-create them both. Her interpretation of this particular poem, as well as of any other poetic work of Shevchenko, enjoys the full right of being called a three-dimentional translation, which remains faithful to the ST meaning, verse, and style. “When I die, then make my grave // High on an ancient mound…” – whose words are those? Whose testament is this? No less Rich’s than Shevchenko’s have become. Research shows that Shevchenko’s mastery of versification and

Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły his poetic imagery, based on the Romantic ideas of national history and folk culture, as well as the fundamental Christian values of truth and freedom, have greatly influenced the mind and muse of Vera Rich. The Ukrainian poet’s visualization of the beauty of his homeland and his ethnic culture had eventually conduced to her decision to be buried in Ukraine, near Taras Shevchenko, on a picturesque and age-old mound glorified by Shevchenko.

4. Translation strategy of Vera Rich recapitulated: pursuing “an im- possible ideal” In the groove of the Western translation ideal of perfect fidelity to the form and content of the original, Rich contributed not so much to the devel- opment of any theory of translation, as to the life-long practicing of translation as an innermost experience of mirroring “the other”. As George Steiner has aptly remarked in his seminal monograph After Babel, “no contingent form can be defined as perfect. […]. But if ‘perfect’ translation is no more than a formal ideal, and if great translation is rare, there are, none the less, ex-

60 Lada Kolomiyets has disrupted”has ance of forces, of integral presence, his which appropriative comprehension makes his response responsible, only he when endeavours to restore- bal the and restitutive:translator, “The the exegetist, the reader, to is faithful or faithful analytical reconstructions of ST, the –understanding, explanatory, highest stage of hermeneutic motion, Steiner subsumed exegetic translations, work for translation Rich-style works. Under heading the of reciprocity, the final move, or stage, of reciprocity, pertinentsuggests conceptual a frame - to meaning, verse, and style and far from of ideal atranslator’s the authenticity, found intripartite fidelity superficial cally rendering the of ST content, or “spirit”,something ingenuine, herself from what “imitation”, she called as versificatory ignorant and techni- for reciprocity intranslation. For reason, Rich that distanced Ithink, very claim the identity to preserved woulderwise, become ascreen,or obstacle, shouldn’texistence poem inthe lowing track of the Rich’s of idea translator’s the transparency, author’s TT the namic fusion of meaning and sound, verse and style. And fol sense, inthis - soul, material, lexical equivalent Rich remained TT lastthe centuryof half substituting ST the material lexical with (dictionary) than follow common the “rewrite rules”, that is, prevailing the practice of a piece of totally lucid, responsible exposition” valuation articulatelinguistic acritical expertness is which at same the time, of exegesis, critical analytic inwhich understanding, historical imagination, nature of exegetic translations: “There aretranslations which are supreme acts 26 25 24 23 amples to approach seem which limits the of empirical possibility” “represent integral the life of original” the its “integral presence”, Steinerian inthe meaning of faithfully term.They this into of scope the reciprocity, or restitution of ST’s the of “balance forces” and literary andliterary other contexts. From Steiner’s interanimation perspective, often contrastive influences and socio-cultural,attractions TT the of ST and source the between and target culture gravity forces, diverse the between and ration and (inter)animation of eachother. of translator’s Aview the balance as areciprocal of act two souls’ authors’ ST –the and TT the –mutual inspi- that Steiner as “interanimation”. viewed translation Thisview of is an ideal lucidity inRich’s to that paralleled can be of experience poise translator the Ibidem. G.Steiner, Ibidem, p. 429. Ibidem, p. 318. p. 428. Steiner’s of translation theory as hermeneutic motion with its fourth and amirror of other’s the recognizable identity, animator an AfterBabel: Aspects Languageof and Translation, Oxford–New York 1992, 24 . Further inhis already classic Steiner book, expands on the . be visible,be or identity their recognizable.- Oth Vera Rich as aTranslator of Taras Shevchenko… 26 . In translator’s the respect, this a poet reflecting poet a anotherpoet’s 25 . Rich’s translation works fall of ST the dy- 23 his text, . Rather . Rather 61

Artykuły i rozprawy …tells of a dialectic of fusion in which identity survives altered but also strengthened and redefined by virtue of reciprocity. There is annihilation of self in the other consciousness and recognition of self in a mirroring motion. Principally, there results a multiplication of resource, of affirmed being. ‘Inter- animated’, two presences, two formal structures, two bodies of utterance as- sume a dimension, an energy of meaning far beyond that which either could generate in isolation or in mere sequence. The operation is, literally, one of raising to a higher power27.

The readers’ numerous favourable and applausive comments on Rich’s translations, posted on the “Allpoetry” site, turn out to be the best proof of live interanimation. Consider, for instance, a couple of them: “Beautiful poem, Vera! Mr. Shevchenko would be eternally grateful to you for this beautiful rendering (from the reader’s comment with nickname “Anonymuncule”)28. “…If anything in this contest was going to be “seeded” then it would have to be the combination of Vera Rich and Taras Shevchenko!” (from the reader’s comment with nickname “Mairi bheag”)29. And in lieu of a finishing remark, I will refer to the readers’ response to Rich’s last intravitam publication of Shevchenko – her translation of “The Poplar” on “Allpoetry”: “This is brilliant dear poetess and I feel honored to read it” (from the reader’s comment with nickname “Amera”)30. “Thanks to the poet for bringing this to our English eyes and ears!” (from the reader’s comment with nickname “Peripatetic”)31. “I honour the life of the smart, terse cookie I ran into” (from the reader’s comment with nickname “just 32

Artykuły i rozprawyArtykuły mercedes”) . “Bravo Vera Rich, a true poet who will be truly missed here at Allpoetry. Her work here in translation is awesome, such a great lady doing what she loved” (from the reader’s comment with nickname “spideracer”)33.

Abbreviations: ST – source text TT – target text

27 Ibidem, p. 476. 28 T. Shevchenko, The Rusalka (translation) by Vera Rich – Allpoetry, [in:] http://www. allpoetry.com/…/3462574-Taras-Shevchenko--translation--THE-RUSAL… [5 Jan 2016] 29 T. Shevchenko, The Poplar (translation) by Vera Rich – Allpoetry, [in:] http//www. allpoetry.com/…/5922891-Taras-Shevchenko-The-Poplar--translation--b… (12 Jan 2016) 30 Ibidem. 31 Ibidem. 32 Ibidem. 33 Ibidem.

62 Lada Kolomiyets