This paper attempts to compare different translation of the Poem 'Last Night’ by the famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It has analyzed the poem from structural, semantic, and thematic perspectives. Translators who hail from different backgrounds have looked at the poem from different angles, thus it influenced the translating practice.
Translating Faiz: Comparative Study of Translations of the Poem ‘Last Night’
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, prominent Urdu poet of 20th century, has been translated into different languages such as English, Russian and German etc. He is widely read through translation of his poetic works. His poems have been well rendered to English by translators, both native English and Indians or poets from subcontinent. Through my much long query to the translators of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, I came across numerous translators of his works. The list goes this like: Victor G. Kiernan, Imdad Hussain, Vikram Seth, Agha Shahid Ali, Daud Kamal, Khalid Hassan, Sarvat Rahman, Kushwant Sing, Noami Lazard and Shiv K. Kumar.
Victor G. Kiernan was the first who translated Faiz into English. His translated word titled ‘Poems by Faiz,’ follows a distinct method; after giving original text in Urdu, he provides his own thoughtful translation and then translated them in literal language too. Agha Shahid Ali through his “The Rebel’s Silhouette’’ rendered Faiz in an elaborated, free and loose translation, so that he avoided word for word translation while some other translators were grappling with literal translation. Shiv K. Kumar’s translation merges between rhythmic identity and emotional identity of each poem he did for translation from Faiz Ahmed. Curiously enough, Kumar and Faiz have shared common cultural and linguistic heritage, as both hail from Lahore and have Punjabi taste. And both have been Eliotean perception in their poetic career.
Noami Lazard, another translator, popularized Faiz in the western world, as she pondered much more over grammatical construction, importance of charging verbs, discounting of adverbs and adjectives and tried to find Faiz in English with same spirit, tone and feeling. She imbibes the soul of the Urdu original and tries to put them in the way an English read can appreciate it according to his suitable context. Lazard’s translation was expression of other cultures in her works.
Once I have gone through the translation of Sarvat Rahman, I wondered on his way of using adjectives and complementary nouns with meaningful connotations, which stands for words which is not there in the poem, which I would explain while dealing with comparative analysis of Last Night, with translations of others writers. Vikram Seth and Kushwant Sing come close to each other in their art of articulation or communicating the idea of Faiz because their translation seems to be identical in words and way of expression.
Here I chose Ashaar, from which the poem ‘ Rat’, by Faiz for comparison. The very title given by translators varies each from other. Rat is the first word in the Urdu original, has been rendered as as ‘ Last Night ’ by Kiernan, Shiv Kumar, Sarvat Rahman and Vikram Seth, as ‘ tonight’ by Imdad Hussain, and as ‘ At night’ by Agha Shahid Ali. The word given by Agha Shahid Ali seems to be more accommodative for the source word ‘Rat’, which can consist both ‘last night’ of Kiernan and ‘ tonight’ of Imdad Huassain.
Translating the word ‘dil ’, which has been intended as spiritual self of the poet or the lover and also ‘ dil’ has been given the I’ness. And it can be both spiritual and physical self. Some translators has merged ‘ dil’ and ‘ yaad’ in same words of recollection and reflection of the past.
It is interesting to notice that the different translation for the word ‘ Khoi hui yaad’. Yad has been given description through different adjectives, which are closely related with psychological aspects of memory and remembrance and each translators has picked up different levels of psychology of memory. Memory has been modified by different adjectives, such as Faded, long-lost, fugitive, lost, the adjectives which have special connotative meaning to be conveyed. Kiernan used ‘ faded memory, he may conveys the memory which is faint, and something is there to recollect but cannot retrieve it accurately and still does not have clarity in recollecting. Imdad Hussain modified remembrance (and there is slight difference between memory and difference which I will explain later) with long-lost, which implies, very obviously, the absent, unavailable and lost forever which cannot be retrieved anymore. Shiv Kumar’s highly charged adjective ‘ fugitive’ which means something that tends to flee soon from the memory, and stay only for short time and loses suddenly. Agha Shahid Ali’s lost memory without having any fixed point of time for losing memory. Sarvat Rahman and Victor G Kerinan have given same as other translators did.
Coming to the translation of ‘ Veerana, which literally means desert. Here, its concrete meaning has been transformed in the word veerana as its abstract content ‘ Wilderness’ as seen in Kiernan, Imdad, Kumar, and Vikram Seth. Only Agha Shahid Ali’s translation of ‘ Veerana as ‘ empty field’ seems to be loaded with meaning of desolation, barrenness, and emptiness. The word wilderness, has been given the adjective of ‘ forsaken, in translation of Sarvat.
We see the polyphonicity of Faiz’s poetry, experiencing it from translators’ rendering of ‘Chupke Se’. Chup ke se has different meanings. We are familiar with ‘stealthly, calmly, quietly, as translators gave same for it in translations. The coming of spring has been described through different modes. Arrival of spring has been given semblance of ‘ calm adventure’ by Kiernan, quality of invasion by Imdad Hussain, both translations have elements of oxymoron in them. ‘ Quietly touching’ used by Shiv Kumar seems to be a bit contrasting to the usage of advent and invasion of spring. Agha Shahid Ali and Sarvat Rahman translated ‘ chupke se’ in a same manner but in different words, ‘without being noticed’ by former and ‘ stealthly’ by the latter.
The way, memory of the beloved compared with ‘ bahaar’, can be read in different aspects. ‘ Bahaar ’ is spring as translated by Kiernan, Imdad, Sarvat, Seth, and it is similar with Agha Shahid Ali’s ‘ springtime’ for the word ‘Bahaar’, which is the time of vegetation and flowering and season between winter and summer. Shiv Kumar’s translation of ‘ bahaar ’ as ‘ springtide’ can be explained in two ways: ‘ springtide ’ in its original meaning is a high tide coinciding with a full moon or a new moon, and on the other hand as tide or stream of spring of water in the desert where there is urging need for quenching thirst. No one will be able to reach that degree of approximation with the essential rhythm of original verse which Kumar has achieved through his search for the right and rare word in the receiving language.
Coming to the third line of the poem, it echoes the solace through arrival of breeze to the desolated desert. ‘Sahraon ’, in almost translations, it is given as desert, but in Sarvat Rahman’s translation an adjective has been deliberately added. ‘ Burning ’ describes the situation of scorching sun and unbearable heat of the desert in all seasons. And a kind of relief is give by blowing of breeze.
‘Baade Naseem’, is the typical phrase of Faiz, which he repeatedly mentions all over through his collections of poetry. It is intended as carrier or messenger of peace and love. Kiernan, Agha Shahid Ali, Vikram Seth, gave ‘ breeze’ as translation of ‘ Baade Naseem’ while Imdad has given it as ‘ Zephyr ’ which is same as breeze in its gentle and light blowing.
Faiz described ‘ baade naseem’s blowing with ‘haule se’ which is translated as ‘ soft footsteps’ in the translation of Kiernan. Though every translators wanted to convey same meaning, they put it in different style. ‘Quietly blowing’ by Imdad, and Kumar has given murmuring and rustling through his usage of ‘ soughing through’ for the gentle movement of the breeze. In same vein as Kumar’s, Agha Shahid Ali gave the quality of great care to the gentle moving breeze and thus translated it as ‘ moving gently,with great care’.
Some translators could not get the ambiguity in understanding the exact grammatical case of ‘ beemar ’. As Kiernan translated, it is sickness he used instead of sick, and ‘ someone sick’ by Shiv Kumar. Agha Shahid Ali’s using of ‘ dying patient ’ for ‘ beemar ’, seems as loose translation and dying gives as special feature of the patient who is helpless in every sense.
‘Qarar’ has been given different interpretation by translators. Kieran and Seth have given ‘ peace’ as meaning of Qarar. ‘ The sense of wellbeing’ meaning by Imdad reverberates the literal meaing of Qarar. Agha Shahid Ali provided a simple but powerful translation which is ‘dying patient smiles, while Sarvat ‘ soothing’ for this situation of recovery and relief.
This study was a simple comparison of translations of a single poem by Faiz. Translators of Faiz have comprehended the polyphonicity of his poems. Even though western translators tried to translate Faiz into the Eurocentric perpectives, which is striving to homogenize, provincialize his works into a dominant and hegemonic ideology, he was popularized through translations all over the world. Agha Shahid Ali’s concern about translation of Faiz could be relevant to be mentioned in this context. ‘Would I be able to make English behave outside its aesthetic habits and similar concerns were shared among other translators too.
References
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Prabhat K. Singh, Shiv K. Kumar's Translation Of The Love Lyrics Of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Indian Literature, Vol. 42, No. 4, Sahitya Akademi, (1998)
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Mazhar Hayat, Marxist Utopia And Political Idealism In The Poetry Of Pablo Neruda And Faiz Ahmad Faiz: A Comparative Study, International Islamic University Islamabad, (2014)
Victor G. Kiernan Poems By Faiz Translated, With An Introduction And Notes, London: George Allen And Unwin, (1971) http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/3mod/kiernan_faiz/index.html
Riz Rahim. In English, Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Faiz Ahmed Faiz A Renowned Urdu Poet, Xlibris Corporation ( 2008), https://books.google.co.in/books?id=9TAzp1Vy7t0C
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- Citation du texte
- Muhamed Riyaz Chenganakkattil (Auteur), 2016, Translating Faiz Ahmed Faiz. A comparative study of translations of the poem "Last Night", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/346437
