A Study of Metaphor as an Aesthetic Function of Language in the English Translation of the Divan of Hafez

Abstract

In general one can claim that translation is an activity that poses many problems for translators. The present study is going to touch upon metaphors in the Divan of Hafez (1310) in its English translation by Wilberforce Clarke (1881), to investigate how procedures employed by the translators can help TL readers in perceiving the implied meanings associated with metaphors in Hafez poetry. As far as the translation of metaphors in the Divan is concerned, it was observed that the most frequently employed procedure (literal translation) could not be considered as the most effective one. The procedure 'couplets' (literal translation plus notes of any kind) seems to be one of the best procedures of translating metaphors since it makes the TT reader aware of the concepts and meanings underlying ST metaphors.