TRANSLATING POETRY

The paper discusses the problems of literary translation which is considered one of the most challenging kinds of translation, because to translate adequately a translator should also have some literary talent. Poetry as a substyle of fiction has a lot in common with literary prose, first and foremost in terms of national colouring and the variety of expressive means employed. However, its specific structure which is largely determined by rhyme and rhythm demands certain changes while transferring it into a foreign language. The comparative analysis of J. Brodsky's poem «A Song» and its translation made by an anonymous translator reveals that translation losses for the most part concern the emotional meaning, rather than the cognitive one. Thus, the most complicated part of the poem turns out to be its ending which is the climax of the whole text. That is why, we make a conclusion that it is very important, while translating, to preserve not only the cognitive information, but the emotive and expressive characteristics of the original text, which requires modulation of literary images in translation.