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Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

Article  in  Journal of the Association of Arab Universities for Basic and Applied Sciences · January 2016

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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

The Butterfly’s Burden is a collection of translated poems published in 2007:

From The Stranger’s Bed written in (1998)
1. Whom Am I Without Exile: 89,91
2. The Subsistence Of Birds: 75,77
3. A Doe’s Young Twins: 31
From State of Siege written in (2002)
4. “State Of Siege”, The Butterfly’s Burden: 121
5. “State of Siege”, The Butterfly’s Burden: 125
6. “State of Siege”, The Butterfly’s Burden:131
7. “State of Siege”, The Butterfly’s Burden: 139
From Don’t Apologize For What You Have Done written in (2003)
8. On A Day Like Today:191
9. If You Return Alone: 195
10. No Banner In The Wind: 199
11. They Don’t Look Behind Them: 221
12. The Coastal Road: 285
13. The Kurd Has Only The Wind: 319
14. Nothing Pleases Me: 247

831
 ‫‪Mahasneh‬‬

‫‪Thawabteh, Muhammad. 2008. Cultural Reference within the Hermeneutic‬‬

‫‪Circle: The Case of Arabic-English Translation. Applied semiotic journal‬‬
‫‪21(8): 5-15.‬‬
‫‪Volek, Bronislava. 1987. Emotive Signs in Language and Semantics Functioning‬‬
‫‪Of Derived Nouns in Russian. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamin’s‬‬
‫‪publishing.‬‬

‫‪Appendix‬‬
‫‪ .1‬ﻣﺤﻤﻮد دروﻳﺶ‪ ،‬اﻷﻋﻤﺎل اﻟﺠﺪﻳﺪة اﻟﻜﺎﻣﻠﺔ )‪(1‬‬
‫ﻣﻦ‪ :‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ )‪(2003‬‬
‫‪" .1‬ﻓﻲ ﻣﺜﻞ ﻫﺬا اﻟﻴﻮم"‪ ،‬ﻻﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪32-31 :‬‬
‫‪" .2‬إن ﻋﺪت وﺣﺪك"‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪35 :‬‬
‫‪" .3‬ﻻ راﻳﺔ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺮﻳﺢ"‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪40 :‬‬
‫‪" .4‬ﻻﺷﻲء ﻳﻌﺠﺒﻨﻲ"‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪90-89 :‬‬
‫‪" .5‬ﻻﻳﻨﻈﺮون وراءﻫﻢ"‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪61:‬‬
‫‪" .6‬ﻃﺮﻳﻖ اﻟﺴﺎﺣﻞ"‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪130:‬‬
‫‪" .7‬ﻟﻴﺲ ﻟﻠﻜﺮدي اﻻ اﻟﺮﻳﺢ"‪ ،‬ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‪169-168:‬‬
‫ﻣﻦ ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر )‪:(2002‬‬
‫ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‪: 179‬‬ ‫‪.8‬‬
‫ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‪184 :‬‬ ‫‪.9‬‬
‫‪ .10‬ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‪197:‬‬
‫‪ .11‬ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‪208 :‬‬

‫‪ .2‬ﻣﺤﻤﻮد دروﻳﺶ‪ ،‬اﻷﻋﻤﺎل اﻟﺠﺪﻳﺪة اﻟﻜﺎﻣﻠﺔ )‪(2‬‬

‫ﻣﻦ‪ :‬ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ )‪(1997-1996‬‬
‫‪" .12‬ﺷﺎدﻧﺎ ﻣﻦ ﻇﺒﻴﺔ ﺗﺆﻣﺎن"‪ ،‬ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‪47-46:‬‬
‫‪" .13‬ﻣﻦ أﻧﺎ دون ﻣﻨﻔﻰ"‪ ،‬ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‪118-117:‬‬
‫‪" .14‬رزق اﻟﻄﻴﻮر"‪ ،‬ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‪94-93 :‬‬
‫‪830‬‬
 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

Muhawi, Ibrahim, trans .2009. Context of language in Mahmoud Darwish a

paper given on the occasion of a tribute to the life and work of Mahmoud
Darwish by the center for contemporary Arab studies. Georgetown
university.
https://www.ciaonet.org/wps/ccas/0017966/f_0017966_15393.pdf,
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33:107–120.
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Darwish and Mourid Barghouti”, In Mahmoud Darwish, exile's poet:
critical essays, ed. Hala Khamis Nassar and Najat Rahman, 293-318.
Northampton, Mass.: Oliver Branch Press/Interlink Books.
Rooke, Tetz. 2008. In The Presence of Absence: Mahmoud Darwish’s
Testament. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 8(3): 11-25.
Saith, Ashwani. 2005. Mahmoud Darwish: Hope as Home in the Eye of the
Storm. Art and Media ISIM Review 15 Spring: 28-29.
Shamma, N. 1978. A Linguistic Analysis of Some Problems of Arabic to
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Due to Emotiveness in Arabic. Turjuman 2(2): 63-73.
Shunnaq, Abdulla. 1999. Repetitive and Emotive Expressions in Gamal Abdul
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Lecture delivered at Kuwait University 25 April 2006.
Stevenson, Charles. L. 1963. Facts and Values: Studies in Ethical Analysis. New
Haven and London: Yale University Press.

829
 Mahasneh

Darwish, Ali.2005. Poetic License: Self Centricity and Out Of Body Experience
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on 6th of Feb.2015).
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Hala Khamis Nassar and Najat Rahman, VII-XIV. Northampton, Mass.:
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Joudah, Fadi, trans. 2007. The Butterfly’s Burden. USA: Copper Canyon Press.
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Mahasneh, Anjad. 2016.Arabic Language and Emotiveness’s Translation.
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Muhawi, Ibrahim, trans.1995. Memory for Forgetfulness. Berkeley: University
of California press.

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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

4 The total number of registered refugees in Gaza refugee camp is 494, 296 people, and
the total number of registered refugees in west bank refugee camps is 189,188. For
more information visit the United Nations site:
http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/camp-profiles.html
5 Abu Tammam Habib Ibn Aus, c.805-c.845, is a famous Arab poet.
6 To read more about jahili poetry see:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2501/is_3_25/ai_114519328/

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،‫ ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‬،‫ ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‬.(2)‫( و‬1) ‫ اﻷﻋﻤﺎل اﻟﺠﺪﻳﺪة اﻟﻜﺎﻣﻠﺔ‬.2009 .‫ ﻣﺤﻤﻮد‬،‫دروﻳﺶ‬
.‫ رﻳﺎض اﻟﺮﻳﺲ ﻟﻠﻜﺘﺐ واﻟﻨﺸﺮ‬:‫ ﺑﻴﺮوت‬.‫ ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‬،‫ ﺟﺪارﻳﺔ‬،ً‫ﻟﻤﺎذا ﺗﺮﻛﺖ اﻟﺤﺼﺎن وﺣﻴﺪا‬
Abdel-Malek, Kamal. 2005. The Rhetoric of Violence: Arab-Jewish Encounters
in Contemporary Palestinian Literature and Film. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Alone, Ilai. 2005. Towards a Palestinian Arabic Emotive Lexicon: An Invitation
for Discussion. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain &
Ireland 15: 1-13.
Al-Shafaqi, Muhammad.1979. Fi Tarjamat Elsh’er. Al She’er 15:140-145.
Bahameed, Adel Saleem.2008. Hindrances in Arabic- English Intercultural
Translation. Translation Journal 12 (1).
http://www.accurapid.com/journal/43culture.htm, (accessed July 20, 2015).
Baker, Mona.1992. In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation. London and
New York: Rutledge.
Bell, R.T. 1991. Translation and Translating: Theory and practice. London and
New York: Longman.
Bennett, E. (2002). Translating poetry. Translatum Journal and the Author 2 (2).
http://www.translatum.gr/journal/2/translating-poetry.htm, (accessed June
30, 2015).
Catford, J.C. 1965. Linguistic Theory of Translation. London: Oxford University
Press.
Connolly, David. "Poetry translation." Routledge encyclopedia of translation
studies (1998): 170-176.

827
 Mahasneh

‫ﺗﺮﺟﻤﺔ اﻟﺸﻌﺮ اﻟﺴﻴﺎﺳﻲ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻲ إﻟﻰ اﻹﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ‬

.‫ اﻷردن‬،‫ إرﺑـ ــــﺪ‬،‫ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ اﻟﻴﺮﻣﻮك‬،‫ ﻗﺴﻢ اﻟﺘﺮﺟﻤﺔ‬،‫أﻧﺠﺎد ﻣﺤﺎﺳﻨﻪ‬

‫ﻣﻠﺨﺺ‬
‫ﺗﻬﺪف ﻫﺬه اﻟﺪراﺳﺔ إﻟﻰ ﻣﻨﺎﻗﺸﺔ إﻣﻜﺎﻧﻴﺔ ﺗﺮﺟﻤﺔ اﻟﻤﺼﻄﻠﺤﺎت اﻟﺴﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ اﻟﻌﺎﻃﻔﻴﺔ اﻟﻤﺴﺘﻌﻤﻠﺔ‬
:‫ ﺗﻜﻤﻦ أﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﻫﺬه اﻟﺪراﺳﺔ ﺑﺄﻧﻬﺎ ﺗﺤﺎول اﻻﺟﺎﺑﺔ ﻋﻦ اﻟﺴﺆال اﻟﺘﺎﻟﻲ‬.‫ﻓﻲ اﻟﺸﻌﺮ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻲ إﻟﻰ اﻹﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ‬
.‫ﻫﻞ ﺗﺸﻜﻞ اﻟﻤﺼﻄﻠﺤﺎت اﻟﻌﺎﻃﻔﻴﺔ ﻋﻘﺒﺔ أﻣﺎم اﻟﻤﺘﺮﺟﻢ ﻣﺎﺑﻴﻦ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ واﻹﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ‬
‫ﺗﻢ اﺧﺘﻴﺎر اﻟﻤﻘﻄﻮﻋﺎت اﻟﻤﺪروﺳﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬا اﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻣﻦ اﻷﻋﻤﺎل اﻟﻜﺎﻣﻠﺔ اﻟﺠﺪﻳﺪة ﻟﻤﺤﻤﻮد‬
.‫دروﻳﺶ وﺗﺮﺟﻤﺘﻬﺎ ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻻﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ اﻟﺸﺎﻋﺮ واﻟﻤﺘﺮﺟﻢ ﻓﺎدي ﺟﻮدة‬
‫وﻗﺪ أﻇﻬﺮت ﻫﺬه اﻟﺪراﺳﺔ ﺑﺄن ﻫﺬه اﻟﻤﺼﻄﻠﺤﺎت ﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﺗﺮﺟﻤﺘﻬﺎ ﺑﺸﻜﻞ ﺟﻴﺪ إﻟﻰ ﺣﺪ ﻣﺎ وذﻟﻚ‬
،‫ ﺑﺄن ا ﻟﻤﺸﺎﻋﺮ واﻟﻌﻮاﻃﻒ ﺟﺰء ﻣﻦ اﻻﺳﺎﺳﻴﺎت اﻟﻤﺸﺘﺮﻛﺔ ﺑﻴﻦ ﺟﻤﻴﻊ اﻟﺸﻌﻮب‬:‫ﻟﻌﺪة أﺳﺒﺎب أﻫﻤﻬﺎ‬
‫ واﺧﻴﺮاً أن ﻣﻌﻈﻢ‬،‫وأن ﻣﻌﻈﻢ اﻟﻤﻮاﺿﻴﻊ اﻟﻤﻄﺮوﺣﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ دروﻳﺶ ﻫﻲ ﻣﻮاﺿﻴﻊ ﻋﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﻣﺸﺘﺮﻛﺔ‬
‫اﻻﺷﺎرات اﻟﻤﺴﺘﺨ ﺪﻣﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺷﻌﺮ دروﻳﺶ ﺳﻮاء ﻛﺎﻧﺖ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺘﻮارة أو اﻟﻘﺮآن ﻫﻲ اﺷﺎرات ﻣﻔﻬﻮﻣﺔ‬
.ً‫وﻣﺸﺘﺮﻛﺔ أﻳﻀﺎ‬
* The paper was received on March 22, 2016 and accepted for publication on Dec. 6, 2015.

Notes

1 Samih Al Qasim is among the most famous Palestinian poets. Born in 1939 in the
Galilee-Palestine, he was held under house arrest and imprisoned, by Israeli
occupation, many times because of his activism. Samih Al Qasim has published
numerous poetry collections, and some of them have been translated into English,
also some of his nationalistic poems have been put to music.
2http://www.suffolk.edu/college/23864.html,
http://www.selvesandothers.org/view691.html,
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/carolyn_forche/biography
3 Stanza: is a fixed number of verse lines arranged in a definite metrical pattern, forming
a unit of a poem One of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines
usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stanza
826
 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

not easy to be understood or dealt with. Translation becomes highly challenging

for the translator who should involve him/herself in mastering both languages
(the SL and the TL) and both cultures in order to remove some of the obstacles
that might confront him/her while translation. “Translation should, as Darwish
suggests, become more than a new poem in another language. It should expand
into that language new vastness. Darwish is a song maker whose vocabulary is
accessible but whose mystery is not bashful” (Joudah 2005: xv-xvi).
Translating is a translator dependent task, and the role of the translator is a
crucial role in rendering the message and meaning between when translating.
His experience, his linguistic knowledge of languages, his cultural background
of both cultures, and his proficiency play a major role in choosing the right
equivalents for the most complicated items which include emotive expressions
and make them readable to the TL reader.
We do not wish to argue that emotiveness in Arabic is impossible to
maintain when translated. First because people as human beings share many
things in common including emotions; second, because we do believe that some
themes used by Darwish are universal, and therefore translatable; and third,
because references and symbols used by Darwish like the biblical and the
Quranic allusions are readable and shared. But what might be missing in
Darwish’s poetry when translated is the intensity of emotion, as if one or more
layers of his poetry cannot be maintained as they are in the Arabic language (as
we mentioned earlier, musicality is one of those multiple layers).
Finally; the findings of this paper coincides with those of Mahasneh (2016:
273) who concluded that " emotive expressions are part of the connotative
meaning of a concept or a word, therefore there might be a universal agreement
on the general connotations of some emotive expressions...We also believe that
there are particular connotations specific to certain languages and cultures".

825
 Mahasneh

Translating political expressions depends also on another important aspect

which is the reader’s responses and reader’s political affiliations to what is
happening in the world. For example, for a South African reader, the Palestinian
context might be highly emotive due to the similarity of the Apartheid condition
in both countries, while for a British or a European reader who does not criticize
the history of colonization and does not sympathize with the Palestinian
suffering, this context might not invoke the same emotions. Furthermore,
readers’ response also depends on other factors like the background they have
about the poet’s life and work, the literary context, and the cultural awareness
and information about political and human issues around the world. To
conclude, we might say that emotiveness has different layers, and therefore
when translated it certainly has different degrees of intensity.
Conclusion
This study has attempted to identify the difficulty in translating political
emotive expressions in Mahmoud Darwish’s political poetry into English. We
said earlier that emotive expressions are part of the connotative meaning of a
concept or a word, therefore there might be a universal agreement on the general
connotations of some emotive expressions. We also believe that there are
particular connotations specific to certain languages and cultures. This belief
represents the major argument we tried to problematize in this paper.
Accordingly, one can say that the translation of connotative meaning might
somehow be problematic especially between distant languages and/or cultures
like English and Arabic. Emotive expressions might in some cases depend on the
context, text genre or style, as well as the intention of the speaker. And they
might be used for affecting the addressee/reader or just to reveal the
speaker/writer/translator’s reactions or feelings toward the subject matter. And
therefore, they could be positive or negative. What represents a challenge and an
important dilemma for the translator is that what is emotive in Arabic does not
necessarily turn out to be equally emotive in English.
As we have seen, translating emotive expressions is sometimes a risky
process. The translator has equal chances of having an appropriate translation in
the target language or the opposite. But, despite the fact that Arabic and English
are of two different and distinguished origins, success in translating some
emotive expressions from the former to the latter is possible in the case of
Darwish’s works, because of the universal themes elaborated by Darwish such
as exile, occupation, peace, suffering, oppression, among others. The familiarity
of the translator with the original language, culture and political background is
also of great importance. Translating Darwish’s political emotive expressions
requires a hard-working translator, because the nature of emotive expressions is
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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

This siege will extend until we teach ‫ﺳﻴﻤﺘﺪ ﻫﺬا اﻟﺤﺼﺎر إﻟﻰ أن ﻧﻌﻠﻢ أﻋﺪاءﻧﺎ‬
our enemies
paradigms of our Jahili poetry. ‫ﻧﻤﺎذج ﻣﻦ ﺷﻌﺮﻧﺎ اﻟﺠﺎﻫﻠﻲ‬
“State Of Siege”, The Butterfly’s : 179‫ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‬
Burden: 121
In other poems, the poet refers to a political issue when hinting to the
Israeli claims to Solomon’s temple and the excavations under the Aqsa Mosque.
He compares Palestine to the defeated Troy, to draw a similar picture of the
Palestinian tragedy of occupation (Hamzah 2002). Trojan horses and Troy were
mentioned in different works by Darwish because he sees that: “the similarity of
tragic historical events also serves to fulfill poetic purpose” (Reigelutb 2008:
314). Consider the examples including the emotive items:
Here a General excavates for a country ‫ﻫﻨﺎ ﺟﻨﺮال ﻳﻨﻘﺐ ﻋﻦ دوﻟﺔ ﻧﺎﺋﻤﺔ ﺗﺤﺖ‬
Sleeping beneath the rubble of the ‫أﻧﻘﺎض ﻃﺮوادة اﻟﻘﺎدﻣﺔ‬
upcoming Troy
184 :‫ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺣﺼﺎر‬
“State of Siege”, The Butterfly’s Burden:
125
In the following example the poet refers to a Palestinian belief that any
peace treaty should include Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state. In
the same context, the text producer is referring to the crusades in Palestine but
this time in seeing that behind the current war in Palestine there is a repetition of
the old crusades. The poet is trying to invoke the source language readers’
emotions of enthusiasm and pride of historical accomplishments of Arabs by
referring to the old wars that the Arabs led against the crusaders which have a
high emotive meaning for Arabs. Consider the following stanza:
The road of peace crowned with Jerusalem ‫ﻃﺮﻳﻖ اﻟﺴﻼم اﻟﻤﺘﻮج ﺑﺎﻟﻘﺪس‬
After the end of crusader-masked wars
‫ﺑﻌﺪ اﻧﺘﻬﺎء اﻟﺤﺮوب ﺻﻠﻴﺒﻴﺔ اﻷﻗﻨﻌﺔ‬
“The coastal road”, The Butterfly’s
Burden: 285 ‫ ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ‬،"‫"ﻃﺮﻳﻖ اﻟﺴﺎﺣﻞ‬
130:‫ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‬
What might be missing is the political dimension of the word “crusader-
masked wars” which refers to the economic, political and cultural wars started
by the West to destroy the Islamic and the Arabic countries under the cover and
the masks of religious legitimacy. Today, the same masks persist, to give the
new invaders the international legitimacy to maintain peace and fight terrorism.

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 Mahasneh

of citizenship… Darwish settled on language as his identity, and took upon

himself the task of restoration of meaning and thus, homeland” (Darwish,
Unfortunately xvii). “We have both been freed from the gravity of the land of
identity,” he writes in “Who Am I, Without Exile?” and the freedom he speaks
of is this freedom of self from “the land of identity,” the ties to the physical
borders of the nation (Darwish, Unfortunately 115). (Fragcopoulos 2009:116)
Expressions like, Hudnah (truce), Salaam (peace), ihtilaal (occupation) and
Hisaar (siege), include emotions like, hate, anger, weakness, grief, pain,
suffering, and the desire of living in freedom and in peace. These emotions are
repeated enormously by Darwish to document the Palestinian existence as well
as their struggle against occupation. Darwish sees that writing the Palestinian
history of struggle and repeating it is a way of resistance, a way of preserving
the Palestinian identity from erasure. What is mostly missing in the translation is
the musicality of the repeated letter /ghein/ in the original text as in the
following example:
Be, stranger, another stranger’s ‫ﻓﻜﻦ ﻳﺎ ﻏﺮﻳﺐ ﺳﻼم اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺪﻧﺔ‬
salaam in the truce of the weary
‫اﻟﻤﺘﻌﺒﻴﻦ‬
and be her daydream whenever a
moon suffers her on its way back ‫وﻛﻦ ﺣﻠﻢ ﻳﻘﻈﺘﻬﺎ‬
from Jericho
‫ﻛﻠﻤﺎ أﻟﻢ ﺑﻬﺎ ﻗﻤﺮ ﻋﺎﺋﺪ ﻣﻦ أرﻳﺤﺎ‬
“The Subsistence of Birds”, The
Butterfly’s Burden: 75 94-93 :‫ ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‬،"‫"رزق اﻟﻄﻴﻮر‬
What is missing in the English translation is the feminine word “stranger” in
the expression (a stranger’s salaam). In the English translation, the word
“stranger” does not show the gender of the adjective whether it refers to a
masculine or a feminine, although the possessive pronoun refers to her later.
What might also be missing is the political dimension of this stanza where
Darwish seems to refer to the peace agreement of “Gaza-Jericho First”, the
Israeli-Palestinian agreement signed at the White House in 1994. In this stanza
Darwish sees this agreement as a temporary and ineffective truce in the war
between Palestinians and Israelis.
According to Abdel-Malek, Darwish has used writing as a testimonial, a
form of witnessing since “the role of poetry is to keep memory alive, the author
explains, first and foremost from the threats of extinction by the enemy” (Rooke
2008: 23). Memory also includes the memory of poetry as such. What is missing
in the translation of the following example is the connotative meaning of Jahili
poetry6 for Arabs as the first and greatest form of Arabic poetry:

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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

world have their own identity and citizenship while the Palestinians are the only
people who are deprived of this basic right.
In the same vein, Fragcopoulos (2009: 115) posits:
Throughout Darwish’s work this question of identity in the face of
displacement continues to be a primary one. This concern with identity,
however, is not one that looks simply to reconnect a specific identity claim with
corresponding borders, linguistic or geographic, but one that seeks to answer
more abstract questions about developing an identity rooted in community as
constructed through words, or rather, through what the words represent.
In the following example Darwish draws sarcastically a beautiful metaphor
of the Palestinians, by comparing the Palestine’s identity to the gravity of earth,
and comparing the Palestinians to people floating in the space between clouds,
trying to forget their need of having an identity.
We have become two friends of the ‫ﺻﺮﻧﺎ ﺻﺪﻳﻘﻴﻦ ﻟﻠﻜﺎﺋﻨﺎت اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‬
strange creatures in the clouds. ‫ﺑﻴﻦ اﻟﻐﻴﻮم وﺻﺮﻧﺎ ﻃﻠﻴﻘﻴﻦ ﻣﻦ‬
And we are now loosened from the gravity
of identity’s land. ‫ﺟﺎذﺑﻴﺔ أرض اﻟﻬﻮﻳﺔ‬
What will we do what will we do without ‫ﻣﺎذا ﺳﻨﻔﻌﻞ ﻣﺎذا ﺳﻨﻔﻌﻞ ﻣﻦ دون‬
exile? and a long night that stares at the ‫ﻣﻨﻔﻰ وﻟﻴﻞ ﻃﻮﻳﻞ ﻳﺤﺪق ﻓﻲ اﻟﻤﺎء؟‬
water
“Who Am I Without Exile?”, The ‫ﺳﺮﻳﺮ‬ ،"‫"ﻣﻦ أﻧﺎ دون ﻣﻨﻔﻰ‬
Butterfly’s 118-117:‫اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‬
Burden: 89

What is missing in the translation is the musicality created by the letter /

sad/ in the Arabic text, and the fact that Darwish settled on language to be his
identity. When Darwish came back to his village Birwa after the Israeli invasion
he found it completely destroyed and as we have mentioned earlier he missed the
chance to be registered among the Palestinian people who survived the invasion,
so he was deprived of his right to be a citizen in his homeland, an since then he
considered the Arabic language his only identity, and took upon himself the task
of reviving the language and therefore, homeland.
In “The Hoopoe” he asks: “A boundary within a boundary surrounds us. /
What is behind the boundary?” (Unfortunately 34). The answer is language,
words, poetry. Because his identity exists first in language, outside of the
restrictions of time and geography, it is unconquerable, indestructible, and
transportable. It is also accessible to those who would be placed outside a
community based in national borders, or ethnic heritage. “Denied the recognition
821
 Mahasneh

the heritage from many traditions in his creative writing, both in terms of
intertextuality and literary technique” (Rooke 2008: 22). This picture carries
high charges of negative emotions like sadness, grief, injustice, and oppression.
This is a unique experience for the Palestinian people who have been exiled and
displaced in their own homeland, and it carries a different degree of intensity
when translated to the target language.
In Darwish’s poetry numerous political expressions could be found.
However, these expressions carry different layers of emotiveness for target
language readers who are aware of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land.
Such expressions include; Assra (captives) as in the following example:
As if it were a beautiful dream that ‫ﻛﺄ ﻧﻪ ﺣﻠﻢ ﺟﻤﻴﻞ ﻳﻨﺼﻒ اﻷﺳﺮى‬
treated the captives justly
‫وﻳﺴﻌﻔﻬﻢ ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻠﻴﻞ‬
and aided them through the long
local night ‫اﻟﻤﺤﻠﻲ اﻟﻄﻮﻳﻞ‬
“No Banner in The Wind”, The 40 :‫ ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‬،"‫"ﻻ راﻳﺔ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺮﻳﺢ‬
Butterfly’s
Burden: 199
Other expressions might include, Ta’er Watani (national bird), Shajar Watni
(national tree), and Hadikat Manfak (your exile garden). All these expressions
are small symbols of any independent state, Darwish meant to use them here to
show that the Palestinians are asking for their right of having their own free
country, with its national land, national tree and national bird, a small and
common demand of all nations on this earth. What is missing in the translation is
the musicality created by the repeated word / watani/ homeland or nation.
Consider the example:
I have no national bird, no national ‫ﻟﻴﺲ ﻟﻲ ﻃﺎﺋﺮ وﻃﻨﻲ وﻻ ﺷﺠﺮ وﻃﻨﻲ‬
tree, and no flower in your exile
garden ‫وﻻ زﻫﺮة ﻓﻲ ﺣﺪﻳﻘﺔ ﻣﻨﻔﺎك‬
But I -and my wine travels as I do- ‫ أﻗﺎﺳﻤﻚ اﻟﻐﺪ‬-‫ وﻧﺒﻴﺬي ﻳﺴﺎﻓﺮ ﻣﺜﻠﻲ‬- ‫ﻟﻜﻨﻨﻲ‬
split with you yesterday and ‫واﻷﻣﺲ‬
tomorrow
“A Doe’s Young Twins”, The -46:‫ ﺳﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﻐﺮﻳﺒﺔ‬،"‫"ﺷﺎدﻧﺎ ﻣﻦ ﻇﺒﻴﺔ ﺗﺆﻣﺎن‬
Butterfly’s Burden: 31 47

In another poem Darwish emphasizes the same theme, the Palestinian

identity, to show how important it is for the Palestinians. All nations in this

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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

If you return alone, tell yourself: exile :‫إن ﻋﺪت وﺣﺪك ﻗﻞ ﻟﻨﻔﺴﻚ‬
has changed its features
….. ‫ﻏﻴﺮ اﻟﻤﻨﻔﻰ ﻣﻼﻣﺤﻪ‬
Wasn’t Abu Tammam before you
harrowed :‫أﻟﻢ ﻳﻔﺠﻊ أﺑﻮ ﺗﻤﺎم ﻗﺒﻠﻚ ﺣﻴﻦ ﻗﺎﺑﻞ ﻧﻔﺴﻪ‬
when he met himself: "‫" ﻻ اﻧﺖ اﻧﺖ وﻻ اﻟﺪﻳﺎر ﻫﻲ اﻟﺪﻳﺎر‬
Neither you are you nor home is home”
:‫ ﻻ ﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‬،"‫"إن ﻋﺪت وﺣﺪك‬
“If You Return Alone”, The Butterfly’s
Burden: 195 35

Despite the fact that the poet returns home, he feels that there is no freedom
in this home, because the occupation is still there, and the movement of
Palestinians is restricted in their own homeland. What might be missing in the
translation is the fact that the poet is referring to his personal experience when
he fled to Lebanon in 1948 when Israel invaded his village. He came back two
years later only to discover that he missed the Israeli registration for the
Palestinians who have survived the invasion and since then he lived as a present-
absentee in his own homeland. This historical and political reference (the laws
pertaining to present-absentee Palestinians) is a very important reference to
understand the tragic dimension of exile in the case of Palestinians. Another
missing element in the translation would be the literary allusion made by
Darwish when he refers to Abu Tammam’s5 verse describing the same
experience of going back home to find that everything has changed and that
home and the self have become strangers. In Darwish’s poems analyzed here, we
found several allusions from the Arabic heritage especially poetry. Three well
known poets where mentioned directly, Abu Tammam, Al Mutnabi, and
AlSyaab. In this example, we see Darwish referring to a similar experience of
exile at home when he mentioned Abu Tammam and their similar destiny,
expressed as a form of telepathy or a cross-destiny (‫)ﺗﻮارد ﺧﻮاﻃﺮ وﺗﻮارد ﻣﺼﺎﺋﺮ‬. The
two poets loved their homeland, Darwish loved Palestine and Abu Tammam
loved Syria, and they both felt homesick when they were away, they longed to
the beautiful past although it was full of sadness, but at least it seemed to them
better than the present they lived in. Both of them felt that they committed a big
mistake when they left their homeland, because when they came back they found
that everything had changed and they felt strangers to the place and to the
people, and they lived in internal exile. As Darwish says so beautifully: ‫) أﺗﻴﺖ‬
( ‫ وﺟﺌﺖ وﻟﻜﻦ ﻟﻢ أﻋﺪ‬،‫) وﻟﻜﻦ ﻟﻢ أﺻﻞ‬. ‘I came but never arrived, I enter ed
but never r eturned’. Many allusions were used by Darwish from different
sources including the old Arabic poetry: “Darwish fully knows and freely uses

819
 Mahasneh

overtones to examine how the translator conveyed the intended meaning of these
emotive expressions in the English language. This paper examines the analysis
of specific elements related to the political situation in Palestine under the
occupation, especially the questions of national identity and Palestinian exile.
Results and Discussion
It has been argued earlier that emotions are controversial and that they
cannot be measured or controlled, and therefore they might differ according to
cultures and languages.
In the following example the poet uses three lexical items: the citizen, the
refugee, and the garden, to express the suffering of the Palestinian people and to
express his own suffering and displacement.
I’ll say: I am not a citizen or a refugee (…)ً‫أﻗﻮل ﻟﺴﺖ ﻣﻮاﻃﻨﺎً أو ﻻﺟﺌﺎ‬
(…)
And I want a death in the garden no ‫وأرﻳﺪ ﻣﻮﺗﺎً ﻓﻲ اﻟﺤﺪﻳﻘﺔ ﻟﻴﺲ‬
more, no less! !‫أﻛﺜﺮ أو أﻗﻞ‬
“On A Day Like Today”, The
Butterfly’s Burden: 191 :‫ ﻻﺗﻌﺘﺬر ﻋﻤﺎ ﻓﻌﻠﺖ‬،"‫"ﻓﻲ ﻣﺜﻞ ﻫﺬا اﻟﻴﻮم‬
32-31
“Citizen” refers to one’s national identity or nationality which is something
missing from the Palestinian life since the loss of Palestine. “Refugee” refers to
the state of most of the Palestinians inside and outside Palestine since
occupation4. Darwish is expressing his desirable wish to have a simple death in
his country (the garden) even if the occupation denies him citizenship or even
recognition as a refugee. Death in the land of Palestine is the simple hope that
every Palestinian is looking for, the desire of returning back to their homeland
and get their country back from the occupier is also the desire of being buried in
their homeland. These three items are highly charged with emotion for all
displaced and occupied population who might be suffering from being refugees
or being displaced from their own country. What might be missing in the
translation is the special emotiveness of the source language readers who are
part of this suffering, who share this destiny and who are deprived of the right of
declaring their own identity and their own citizenship as any other people.
In another example from a poem titled “If You Return Alone”, the poet is
referring to his homeland as manfa “exile” because he feels that even inside
Palestine, Palestinians are refugees, imprisoned, discriminated against and
deprived of living a normal life. “The poetry of Darwish is preoccupied with
displacement - a literal displacement” (Rahman 2008: xiii).

818
 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

culture. Consequently, rendering them into English with the same powerful
effect as they have in Arabic might be almost impossible (Shunnaq 1993).
Politics has a particular importance in Palestine because of the occupation
situation. Darwish is considered “the voice of the silenced people who are
homeless at home and refugee in their own country” (Saith 2005: 28-29). He
uses political expressions to express far more than denotative meanings related
to the history of the occupation. His poetry is the proof of his total denial of the
Israeli occupation of Palestine, and draws the attention of the world to the
injustice bestowed upon the Palestinians on a daily basis. Political expressions
include lexical items like exile, identity, land, homeland, siege, and immigration
which have highly emotive overtones when put in the Palestinian context of the
diaspora and internal and external exile. In most of Darwish’s poems one can
trace his personal life and his own suffering from the occupation, including the
destruction of his own village, the harassment by the Israeli police, the exile
between Cairo, Lebanon, Tunisia and Paris, and finally the return to Ramallah
and the internal exile. His life has been very similar to the life and suffering of
the Palestinian people who is facing regular displacement, dispossession, exile
and even prison inside of Israel. His poetry has become the voice of Palestine “to
the extent that Darwish combines the private voice with the public, his personal
experience reflects the collective experience of the Palestinian people” (Muhawi
1995: xviii). Jayyusi (2008: viii) concurs with Muhawi’s analysis when she
states:
Mahmoud Darwish is the poet of Palestine identity par excellence. I am
speaking here both of the personal identity of the poet and the collective identity
of all Palestinians. The personal identity is rooted in the collective one, the latter
being reinforced by the common plight and the common struggle people
share…the Palestinian might suffer and die alone, but his personal tragedy is
linked to the tragedy of the whole people….this collective identity forms an
integral part of the national narrative, and plays a major part in the ongoing
resistance in its countless aspects, it represents a unifying factor, one that speaks
of a similarity of experience, of a common memory that warms the heart.
Political expressions are used to create an emotive impact, especially when
used under occupation; their denotative and connotative meanings are shared by
all speech communities in general, but some particularities of their connotative
meanings might be source language specific especially for Palestinians who are
still suffering from this severe occupation.
After this brief introduction on the definition of emotiveness and its
relationship to language, translation and culture, we move now to the analysis of
excerpts selected from Darwish’s poetry based on their political emotive

817
 Mahasneh

cultural exchange. The second option deprives poetry of its poetic essence, its
aesthetics and its rhythm. Instead, we somehow agree with the idea suggesting
that the poet himself or a translator who is also a poet might be the best person to
translate poetry. “Many writers have claimed that one must be a poet to translate
poetry (Baker 1998:175).
Mahmoud Darwish was one of the modern Arabic poets who uses free verse
in most of his works. He focuses on rhythm and musicality and thus produces a
highly emotive impact on the reader or the listener. In this regard Rahman
(2009) states:
Language as rhythm in the poetry of Darwish consists not only in the
incorporation of musical elements such as rhythm, rhyme, and meter but also in
its overall emphasis on sound in the poetic utterance. Rhythm is also inextricably
linked with the temporality of his writing. Darwish … maintains the emphasis on
the listener in his poetry (p. 103).
To conclude, emotiveness is part of words’ meaning and denotative
meanings are shared between speech communities while connotative meaning
which involves emotiveness might not be shared. Emotiveness is somehow
governed by the language itself and the culture as language and culture are
inseparable. Furthermore, poetry is the most expressive genre in any language; it
includes different types of emotions which might be problematic when translated
into another language, “language and culture also play an important role in how
vocal emotions are recognized” (Pell et al 2009:108).
Politics and Emotive Expressions
Most of the political discourses intend to arouse an emotional reaction
towards a topic. Newmark (1996) believes that politics influence every aspect of
human thought and that it is the most general and universal aspect of human
activity and is thus reflected in language. It often appears in powerful emotive
terms or in important jargon. Newmark (ibid) points out that there are four main
characteristics of political concepts: they are partly culture-bound, mainly value-
laden, historically conditioned and abstracted in spite of continuous effort to
concretize them. Concepts and expressions like"‫"اﻧﺘﻔﺎﺿﺔ‬, “the uprising”, is
associated with occupied Palestine. "‫“ " ﺟﻴﻞ اﻟﺤﺠﺎرة‬generation of stones” refers
to the Palestinians youth struggling against the Israeli forces. Lexical items like "
"‫“ ﻛﺮاﻣﺔ وﻛﺒﺮﻳﺎء‬dignity and pride” are also seminal: " ‫ “ " ﻛﺮاﻣﺔ‬dignity” involve
semantic traits of self-respect, self-esteem, noble-heartedness, high-mindedness,
nobility, honor and more; while"‫"ﻛﺒﺮﻳﺎء‬, “pride” involves grandeur, glory,
magnificence and more. Both of these qualities are supreme values in the Arab
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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

and interpretive translations. His conclusion is that it is more important to

concentrate on semantic content than on the meter. James Holmes (1988) also
suggests four strategies for translating poetry: mimetic form (retaining the form
of the original), analogical form (function-dependent), content–derivative form,
and extraneous form.
If one assumes that translating literary works is the most difficult type of
translation, then poetry would be the most challenging among all branches of
literature to be translated. The beauty of poetry does not lie only in the fact that
it "is neither just words, nor just meter," but also in being "a music of words, and
… a way of seeing and interpreting the world …, and of conveying … a
heightened awareness of it through an intense concentration of metaphor and
words in which the natural flow of speech sounds is molded to some kind of
formal pattern" (Bennett 2002: 1).
Poetry is a combination of elements which cause serious problems in
translation. Poets' own emotions, experiences, opinions, musicality and styles
make the translation process difficult. Some scholars suggest that translating
poetry is impossible because of the difficulty in translating the connotative
meanings of the source text which are the core of poetry. On one hand “poetry
represents writing in its most compact, condensed and heightened form in which
the language is predominantly connotational rather than denotational and in
which content and form are inseparably linked” (Connolly 1998:171). On the
other hand, these connotative meanings are perceived by Connolly (1998) as part
of the cultural context of the source language.
Translating poetry is impossible because it is difficult to convey the culture
and tradition of the source language in the target language, or vice versa. The
poem might have different implicit, explicit, denotative and connotative
meanings, the translator is a reader, and therefore he will give his reading to the
poem (p. 174).
Another difficulty which might arise when translating poetry according to
Connolly (ibid) is the translation of the emotive meaning that the poet intended
to inspire for the readers or the listeners of poetry. “Poetry does not only
function in terms of semantic content and aesthetic form, it is intended to arouse
sentiment and to produce emotional effect. This pragmatic dimension of a poem
is perhaps the most difficult to account for in translation” (Connolly 1998:174).
Furthermore, according to Al-Shafaqi (1979), translating poetry is an impossible
task; therefore, it should be left to be read in its original language, or poetry
should be translated into prose. This is also Jakobson’s position when he speaks
of untranslatability. The first option offered by Al-Shafaqi (ibid) limits the
readership of famous poets' masterpieces and therefore prevents an important

815
 Mahasneh

equivalence does not exist. Intercultural non-equivalence which can cause

untranslatability arises when a situational feature is functionally relevant to the
source language text, but fully absent from the target language text, in which the
target language culture is rooted (Bahameed 2008 cited by Mahasneh 2016:272).
It is true that in some cases, the translator may find some lexical items in Arabic
which have no equivalent in English because the concepts which they refer to do
not exist in the English-speaking culture. Baker (1992:21) puts it as follows:
The source–language word may express a concept which is totally unknown
in the target culture. The concept in question may be abstract or concrete, it may
relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or even a type of food, such concepts
referred to as culture-specific.
Such items are normally culture-bound terms like religiously denoted
notions such as: "‫ "ﺳﺤﻮر‬Sahaur, a meal eaten before dawn before a day of
fasting; "‫ "ﺧﻠﻮه‬Khalwah, an unmarried man and woman found alone together;
"‫ "ﻋﻘﻴﻘﺔ‬Aqiiqa: a goat to slaughter and whose flesh is distributed to the poor on
the occasion for a child’s birth and "‫"ﻣﺤﺎرم‬Mahharem: men that a woman cannot
marry because of a blood relationship, a marriage relationship, or a breast fed
relationship. Social and cultural concepts can be difficult to translate as well,
such as "‫ "ﺿﺮة‬Dorrah (co-wife), the second, third or fourth wife of the husband
(since polygamy is legal in the Islamic culture) and"‫ "زﻏﺎرﻳﺪ‬Zagareed
(ululations), which is a type of sound made by women in order to express joy at
a wedding party, graduation ceremony, or any other joyful occasion, or
sometimes even to express grief when someone dies as a martyr (Thawabteh,
2008 and Bahameed, 2008, Shunnaq 1993 & 1999). The difficulty in translating
these expressions is due to lexical gaps resulting from the cultural differences
between the two languages.
To sum up, one might say that emotive expressions vary from language to
language and from culture to culture, however, there are some words which are
emotive in all languages and shared by all cultures and therefore constitute no
translation difficulty. Furthermore, these emotive expressions can be translatable
with a gain, loss, or even with a change in meaning.
Literary and Poetry Translation
Many articles have been written about the translatability of poetry. Many
strategies to translate poetry have been suggested by many translators and
scholars such as Lefevere, who focuses on the translation process itself and the
influence of context on the original and its translation. He suggests several
strategies to translate poetry: phonemic, literal, metrical, rhyming, blank verse,
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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

The emotive meaning of a word or a phrase is a strong and persistent

tendency, built up in the course of linguistic history, to give direct expression to
certain of the speakers’ feelings or emotions or attitudes; it is also a tendency to
evoke corresponding feelings, emotions or attitudes in those to whom the
speakers’ remarks are addressed.
Eugene Nida and Charles Taber define connotative meaning as “the aspects
of author and the emotional response of a receptor, it can be bad or good, strong
or weak”. For Nida and Charles emotiveness is the result of the interaction of the
triangle of author, text and audience. While Geoffrey Leech (1974) divides
meaning into seven types. Among these seven types, he includes: connotative,
affective, and associative meanings, which might be considered the major
categories of emotiveness (Mahasneh 2016: 270)
Another definition of emotiveness is that of Roman Jakobson in which he
relates emotiveness to expressivity; for him emotiveness is the “direct
expression of the speaker’s attitude toward what he is speaking about” (cited by
Volek 1987:5). Basil Hatim (1997) also relates emotiveness to text type or genre
“like all other facets of texture, the expression of emotiveness is closely bound
up with semiotics categories such as text type, discourse and genre as well as
with the hierarchy organization of texts or the way they are put together” (108).
Translation, Culture and the Connotative Meaning
Roger Bell considers the translation of connotative meaning as somehow
problematic, and defines translation as follows (1991: XV cited by Mahasneh
2016:271): “The transformation of a text originality in one language into an
equivalent text in a different language, retaining as far as it is possible, the
content of the message, the formal features, and the functional roles of the
original text”. Further, he affirms that finding the right equivalent for the
connotative meaning is not an easy task, because the crucial element which one
has to take into consideration when one translates is that one is trying to write an
“equivalent” text. This “equivalent text” could be possible, or might be difficult
in some cases, depending on the nature of the language and the culture from
which we are translating. Taking into consideration that translation is possible
because of the arbitrary relation between the signifier and the signified, and the
fact that the signifier could be changed (or translated) while the signified might
remain the same. Accordingly, translation is possible, but the way in which each
language expresses and describes things is different. Therefore, the translator
faces some difficulties in translating the connotative meanings which differ from
language to language and from culture to culture. (Mahasneh 2016)
An important concept can be introduced here to explain this difficulty; it is
the concept of untranslatability which represents the area in which intercultural
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might depend on the age, background, and the encyclopedic knowledge of the
reader as well as the context. The context of the expression is required to decide
whether these expressions are emotive or not, but sometimes “the emotive
component of an expression seems to reside, at least in part, in the words
themselves rather than exclusively in the peripheral and the contextual” (Alone
2005:3). Examples of emotive words include abstract ideas as well as concrete
experiences such as love, freedom and death, among others. The intention of the
author is also important, and in most of Darwish’s poetry he seems to influence
the reader or the listener to obtain his or her sympathy for his topic. This is what
the paper intends to explore in the following pages.
Emotiveness: A Theoretical Framework
Language, Meaning and Emotiveness
Rogers Bell (1991) distinguishes between denotative and connotative
meanings; the former refers to referential, objective and cognitive meaning
which is shared by any speech community. While the latter refers to associated,
subjective, and effective meaning, which is personal and may or may not be
shared by the speech community. Almost all words have both types of meaning.
Similarly, Guralnik (1958) defines connotative meaning as "what the word
suggests, that is its connotation, can be fully important as what it denotes, the
words are not only grammatical tools and symbols, but that they embody as well
as ensemble of notions, concepts, and psychological reactions" (p. 91).
There are many ways to define and describe emotiveness using the
dichotomy of the denotative and connotative meanings. Denotative meaning is
the conceptual or dictionary meaning, while connotative meaning includes the
emotional associations which are suggested by lexical items, and is equivalent to
emotive or expressive meaning. In this regard, Volek (1987:234) states that
"emotive expressions have no meaning formed by the qualities of the object
referred to, but it is sort of an intended meaning formed by the associative
features of the object expressed".
Emotive expressions stir up strong feelings such as: love, hate, joy,
pleasure, fear, and grief. Furthermore, the attitudes connotative meaning reveal
about an object or an event may be favorable or unfavorable, and they can be
used to express emotions (expressive function), to affect the addressee
(appellative function), or to establish some contact with the addressee (phatic
function) (Volek 1987). Shunnaq (1993:39) argues that “an emotive meaning is
a function of responses, i.e. certain words tend to produce emotive responses
showing that there is emotive meaning.” In this regard Stevenson (1963:21-23)
defines emotiveness as follows:
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 The Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English

poet and physician. Joudah was born in Texas in 1971 to Palestinian refugee
parents, and grew up in Libya and Saudi Arabia. He was a finalist for the 2008
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for his translation of Mahmoud Darwish's
The Butterfly's Burden2.
A full list of the poems and their translation sources appears in an Appendix
to this paper.
Significance of the Study
The study is expected to enrich the literature of translation with new
examples of political emotiveness by highlighting the potential problem areas
encountered when translating emotive expressions. It is also significant in its
attempt to answer the question of whether emotiveness (as expressed by the poet
in the original text) constitutes a problem that the translator has to face when
translating from Arabic into English and the extent to which emotiveness is
translatable.
Study Questions
The study seeks answers to the following questions:
1. Are political emotive expressions in Mahmoud Darwish poetry translatable
in English or not?
2. To what extent does the translation keep the emotive overtone of the
political expressions of Darwish?
Methodology
A number of translated stanzas3 which include political emotive expressions
are selected carefully from one collection of Mahmoud Darwish’s translated
works in order to study their translatability from Arabic into English through
content analysis. These stanzas are taken from recent works by Darwish in
which he expresses his vision of the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli
occupation. He sees Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and
resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. We choose poem
samples that illustrate and represent best the problem of translatability addressed
in this paper. The analysis aims to see to what extent the translator were
successful in rendering the emotive expressions from Arabic into English and
whether their translations raise the same reaction in English as they do in Arabic.
Studying the translatability of emotiveness in Darwish’s political poetry is a
thorny task which requires an in-depth reading of the Arabic texts as well as
their translation. To define whether a lexical item is emotive or not is a tricky
task which needs real experience of what types of emotions and feelings these
items evoke when one reads them. The reader’s response to these emotive items
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 Mahasneh

controversial and there is no possible agreement about them. They cannot be

controlled or defined for each situation. Therefore, this paper analyzes
emotiveness and their translatability taking into consideration that emotions are
variable and cannot be measured, or determined in advance, and that they differ
from person to person according to the cultural context and the specific situation
or event that triggers them, a fact asserted by Harré 1998:46 “How do we know
which words are the words for emotions? Only from the role they play in the
local culture, picking out displays that seem to express judgments of one's own
and other people's behavior along dimensions familiar to all of us, having to do
with loss, possession, and enjoyment and so on”.
This paper studies the translation of political emotive expressions in
Mahmoud Darwish's poetry, a prominent Palestinian and worldwide
distinguished poet, who also represents the voice of the Palestinian people in
their long struggle against Zionism and the Israeli state. He is considered to be
one of three major Palestinian poets of the resistance, along with Samih Al-
Qassim and Tawfiq Zayyad1. He lived in Diaspora since 1970, but in 1995 he
was permitted to visit his mother in Palestine. While he was there he obtained
authorization to stay in Ramallah. He divided his residence between Ramallah
and Amman until his death in August 2008, after which he was buried in
Ramallah.
Darwish started to write poetry while still at school. Like many other
Palestinian poets, the major theme in his poetry is the tragedy of his homeland,
the long struggle of Palestinians, and their dispersion all over the world. Abdel
Malek (2005: 4) posits:
A glance at the writings penned by Palestinian authors about their own
national cause reveals recurrent themes of exile, identity, temporal, and
topographical transitions, living on borders, border crossing, struggle to return to
the homeland, etc. Concepts of home, exile, separation, transition, and return all
conjure up the idea of the right of passage.
He also writes about his own experience of exile inside and outside
Palestine, the lost land and the lost identity of the Palestinian people,
homesickness, resistance, his pride in the Arabic language and the role of
language in preserving identity and preserving the right in land.
As mentioned above, the emphasis is placed on selected emotive
expressions that might be classified as problematic in terms of translatability
according to the author, taken from a translated collection of Darwish. The
original poems can be found in the 2009 edition of The Complete Recent Works
by Mahmoud Darwish. The English translations are selected from The
Butterfly’s Burden translated by Fady Joudah (2007) a Palestinian-American
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The Arab Journal For Arts Vol. 13 No. 2, 2016, pp. 809-831

Translating Arabic Political Poetry into English



Anjad Mahasneh*

Abstract
This study addresses the translatability of political emotive expressions in poetry
from Arabic into English. The ambition of this study is to enrich the literature on
translation with new examples of emotiveness by pointing out the expected problem
areas when translating emotive expressions. Furthermore, this study is significant since it
attempts to answer the question of whether political emotiveness constitutes a problem
when translating from Arabic into English or not.
The English translations are selected from The Butterfly’s Burden translated by
Fady Joudah (2007) to some of Mahmoud Darwish poems which can be found in
Darwish’s most recent poetry collections included in the 2009 edition published by Riad
Elrayyes books.
The study revealed that political emotiveness in Darwish's poetry is translatable into
English for a certain degree because of three reasons; people as human beings share
many things in common including emotions; some themes used by Darwish are
universal, and therefore translatable; and because references, symbols, biblical and the
Quranic allusions used by Darwish are readable and shared.
Introduction
Emotiveness, or emotive meaning is part of the connotative meaning of a
concept or a word, and the meaning therefore differs from person to person and
from one language to another, and consequently from culture to culture. Emotive
expressions might in some cases depend on the context, text type and the
intention of the speaker. Such expressions might also be used to emotionally
impact the addressee or to reveal the speaker’s reaction or feelings towards the
subject matter. The expressions of emotiveness can also be positive or negative.
Different scholars have studied emotive expressions and divided them
differently, either into: phonetic/phonological, morphological, lexical units,
syntactical, intonational, and the use of direct address (Volek, 1987 and Shamma
1978). Or into two types: negative and positive, and traces the main sources of
emotive expressions to figures of speech and cultural expressions (Shunnaq
1993, 1999, and 2006), (Both cited by Mahasneh 2016: 270). Emotions are

 Copyright 2016 by The Society of Arab Universities Faculties of Arts, All rights reserved
* Translation Department, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
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