The Reconstruction of Metaphorical Mapping as an Instrument of the Pre-translation Analysis of Poetry

Although it can help avoid far too literal translations of metaphorical expressions, the reconstruction of metaphorical mapping is still an unclaimed instrument of pre-translation analysis. This research aims at a pre-translation analysis of a book of poems, Babylon in a Jar (1998) by Andrew Hudgins, which has not been previously translated into Russian. The method for linguistic metaphor identification created by G. Steen is applied for the first time in this study as an instrument of pre-translation analysis. Firstly, key conceptual metaphors of the book are identified: death is departure, life is a journey, plants are people, and emotional intimacy is physical closeness. Secondly, the relationship between source and target domains is analysed. For example, the source domain for the metaphor people are plants is a daffodil, a tree, or a chinaberry. In Western cultures, a chinaberry symbolizes the tree of knowledge and in A. Hudgins’ poem, this idea is mapped onto knowledge about sinful human nature. Thirdly, translation strategies are outlined. In the translated version, another plant is introduced to preserve the original cross-domain mapping because the chinaberry tree is not familiar to Russian readers. Based on conceptual metaphor theory, this research seeks to integrate the reconstruction of metaphorical mapping into a pre-translation analysis, which allows for the preservation of the spirit of the original version. These insights advance interdisciplinary research on poetry interpretation and the practice of translation.