An analysed translation of six of Wilfred Owen's war poems : preceded by a discussion of key concepts in literary translation

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three chapters. Chapter one is a literature review, chapter two is the crux of the dissertation as it consists of a translation of six of Wilfred Owen's war poems and a critical analysis of the translation techniques employed. Chapter three is the conclusion. Chapter one is a literature review and it is divided in three parts. The first part discusses general principles of translation, the second part discusses literary translation and the third part discusses poetry translation. This chapter mostly focuses on issues related to literary and poetry translation because the text that is translated in Chapter Two is a literary text. These issues are discussed with reference to translation scholars such as Baker, Bassnett, Eco, Even Zohar, Lefevere, Newmark and Venuti. Chapter two is the crux of the dissertation as it consists of the translation of six of Wilfred Owen's war poems and an analysis of the translation techniques employed. The poems translated are 'Mental Cases', 'The Chances', 'The Send-Off, 'Disabled', 'Exposure' and 'Spring Offensive'. The source text is Stallworthy's Wilfred Owen - The War Poems and the poems are presented in the same order they are presented in Stallwothy's collection.