Metaphor and Simile

Task 1. In the following extract define stylistic devices such as metaphors, similes, epithets. Translate this extract into Ukrainian trying to preserve the same stylistic effect by means of adequate rendering of stylistic devices mentioned above. Сomment on the ways of their rendering:

Dusk had already fallen as Arkady was returning home. On approaching the Neva, he paused for a moment to cast a piercing glance along the river into the frostily dim distance, which had suddenly flamed crimson as the blood-red sun sank into the murky horizon. Night was enshrouding the city and the boundless expanse of the snow-covered river reflected infinite myriads of iridescent spangles as the rays of the dying sun lit up the hoarfrost. The temperature was twenty degrees below zero. Frozen vapour ascended from the hard-driven horses and hastening passers-by. The frozen air seemed to tremble at the least sound and from the roof-tops on either side of the river columns of smoke from the countless chimney-pots plumed into the frosty air like so many fabulous giants, now intermingling, now separating to form in the sky above the city another fantastic city of clouds… It seemed as if all this world, with all its inhabitants both mighty and weak, with all their dwellings, from the beggarly to the gilded palaces of the great, looked at that hour of dusk like some fantastic and magic dream, which in its turn would vanish into nothingness in the blue-black sky. A strange thought came into the mind of poor Vasya’s friend. He started, and his heart seemed filled almost to bursting from spate of scalding blood reaching it, as a powerful sensation he had never experienced came over his being. Only now did he seem to realize all the anxieties that had driven to madness his poor friend who had proved unequal to the impact of so much happiness. His lips quivered, his eyes lit up, he turned pale, and felt that at that moment a new maturity has sprung up in him… He turned gloomy, his former gaiety all gone.

Task 2. Translation is regarded as an important means for cross-cultural communication. In most cases, translators have their own styles in translating text from the SL into the TL with or without considering the author’s individual style due to different stylistic devices. Analyze the extracts from M. Kotsyubynsky’s short stories and:

a) comment the translators’ tactics to be used to render similes into the TL;

b) define whose translation can be regarded more adequate in rendering the author’s style through such stylistic device as simile:

1. Після того було молоко. Білий пахучий напій пінивсь у склянці, і, прикладаючи його до уст, я знав, що то вливається в мене м’яка, як дитячі кучері, вика, на якій тільки ще вчора цілими роями сиділи фіолетові метелики цвіту. Я п’ю екстракт луки (Коцюбинський M. “Intermezzo”).

After this came the milk, a white aromatic liquid foaming in my glass. Putting it to my lips I knew that I was imbiding vetch as soft as a child’s hair, the vetch that only yesterday attracted a host of butterflies. It was the essence of the meadows that I was drinking (“Intermezzo” tr. by J. Guralsky).

After that there is milk. The white fragrant milk foams in the glass and, on puuting the glass to my lips, I know that I am pouring into me vetch, soft as a infant’s curls, I am drinking the day before bore clusters of violet flowers. I am drinking an extract of meadow (“Intermezzo” tr. By A. Mistetsky).

2. Море дедалі втрачало спокій. Чайки знімались із одиноких берегових скель, припадали грудьми до хвилі і плакали над морем. Море потемніло, змінилось. Дрібні хвилі зливались докупи і, мов брили зеленкуватого скла, непомітно підкрадались до берега, падали на пісок і розбивались на білу піну (Коцюбинський M. “На камені”).

The sea grew more and more impatient. Sea-gulls plunged from the lonely rocks and scudded over the waves with mournful cries. The water grew livid. The smaller waves were fused into masses of undulating glass stealing shorewards to collapse and explode in foam (“On the Rock” tr. By J. Guralsky).

The sea grew stormier. Sea gulls rose from the solitary rocks of the shore, alighted with their breasts on the waves and wept over the sea. The water changed to a darker hue. Small waves merged together into greenish glassy blocks, stealthily crept to the shore, fell on the sand, and broke into white foam (“On the Rock” tr. by A. Mistetsky).

3. Або той чорний разовий хліб, який так гарно, по-сільськи пахне. Він мені близький, наче дитина, що зросла на моїх очах. Он біжить він полями, як дикий вовнистий звір, і вигинає хребет (Коцюбинський M. “Intermezzo”).

Or the black bread made of whole-wheat flour, the bread that had such a nice rustic smell. It was as dear to me as a child grown up in my presence. It had sprung from the rye which rolled wave upon wave through the fields, like a shaggy beast in flight… (“Intermezzo” tr. by J. Guralsky).

Or that brown bread which smells so fine and homely. It is as close to me as a child that has grown up under my eyes. There is its source, in a field of grain that runs along with arched back like a shaggy beast (“Intermezzo” tr. by A. Mistetsky).

4. Хоч було ще рано, сірі маси каміння нагрівалися вже, як черінь печі. По їх голих випнутих боках, то круглих, як велетенські шатра, то гострих, мов вершки заклятих хвиль, слався м’ясистим листом отруйний молочай, а нижче, туди і к морю, сповзав поміж синяві груди каміння яро-зелений капорець (Коцюбинський M. “На камені”).

It was still early, but the boulders were as hot as ovens. The fleshy, poisonous leaves of the spurge clung to the ponderous sides of the huge rocks cupola’d like great tents or jagged like a frozen toss of waves. Vitriolic green crawled down to the edge of the sea through the wilderness of boulders (“On the Rock” tr. by J. Guralsky).

Although it was still early, the gray masses of rock were as hot as hearthstones. The fleshy leaves of poisonous milkweed spread over the bare, protruding faces of the rocks, which were sometimes round like enormous tents, sometimes sharp like the crests of menacing waves. Further down, toward the sea, bright green caper bushes snuggled among bluish heaps of stone (“On the Rock” tr. by A. Mistetsky).

5. Фатьма йшла попереду – зелена, як весняний кущ, а Алі, на своїх довгих ногах, тісно обтяжених жовтими ногавицями, в синій куртці і червоній пов’язці, високий і гнучкий, як молодий кипарис, здавався на тлі неба велетнем. І коли вони стали на вершечку, з прибережних скель знявся табун морських птахів і вкрив блакить моря тремтячою сіткою крил (Коцюбинський M. “На камені”).

Fatma was climbing somewhat ahead, as green in her garb as a bush in spring, while Ali in his tight yellow trousers, blue vest and red kerchief was as tall as a supple cedar. He seemed a giant against the background of the sky. When the pair reached the summit, a flock of seagulls took flight from the neighbouring boulders, specking the blue of the sea with their wings (“On the Rock” tr. by J. Guralsky).

They climbed up, Fatma, green like a bush in spring, in front, and Ali on his long legs in tight trousers, wearing a blue jacket and red kerchief, tall and supple like a young cypress tree, towering against the background of the sky. As the two of them stood on the top, a flock of birds rose from the rocks along the shore and hid the blue of the sea with a quivering net of wings (“On the Rock” tr. by A. Mistetsky).

6. Сотки цікавих очей проводили процесію аж до моря. Там, на піску, аж білому од полудневого сонця, стояв похилений трохи чорний баркас, мов викинений в бурю дельфін з пробитим боком. Ніжна блакитна хвиля, чиста й тепла, як перса дівчини, кидала на берег мереживо піни (Коцюбинський M. “На камені”).

A host of curious eyes followed the procession to the edge of the sea. On the dazzling sand stood the listing black skiff like a dolphin tossed ashore. A blue wave as fulsome, pure and warm as the breast of a maiden rolled shoreward and broke in delicate lace of foam (“On the Rock” tr. by J. Guralsky).

Hundreds of curious eyes watched the procession descend to the sea. On the beach, which seemed almost white in the midday sun, stood the black cutter, leaning somewhat on its side like a wounded dolphin cast asore by a storm. Delicate blue waves, clean and warm like a girl’s breasts, tossed fine lacelike foam on the beach (“On the Rock” tr. by A. Mistetsky).

7. Я тепер маю окремий світ, він наче перлова скойка: стулились краями дві половини – одна зелена, друга блакитна – й замкнули у собі сонце, немов перлину (Коцюбинський M. “Intermezzo”.

I had a world of my own now; it was like the shell of a great oyster. One of its folds was green and the other blue, and between them they held the sun like a pearl (“Intermezzo” tr. by J. Guralsky).

I now possess a world of my own, which is like an oyster containing a pearl – the edges of two shells, one green and the other blue, have shut and enclosed the sun between them like a pearl, and I rove there in search of peace (“Intermezzo” tr. by A. Mistetsky).

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