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Arts & Communication Advanced macro-image model for poetry translation

components may carry opposite figurative meanings in because this method best preserves the semantic properties
different languages. For instance, “as weak as water” in of speech units. The autosemantic image level of poetic
English contrasts with the Ukrainian phrase “здоровий, works is illustrated in Figure 1.
як вода” (healthy as water). Conversely, for individual- Poetry is a unique form of creativity, and many poets
author comparisons, especially in poetic discourse, a literal testify that an emotional melody first arises in their heads,
translation is even desirable to convey the peculiarities evolving into a mood that ultimately shapes a sound-
of the poet’s figurative thinking and individual style. For graphic-semantic image. Thus, poetry is fundamentally
example, in Wordsworth’s famous poem “The Daffodils,”: about form. We refer to all form-creating components of
I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o’er vales a poetic work as synsemantic images, which encompass
and hills…, the simile “lonely as a cloud” is reinforced various syntactic means of speech expression, including
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by a series of verbal images of the next line “That floats inversion, anacoluthon, ellipsis, asyndeton, polysyndeton,
on high o’er vales and hills.” In Agadzhanyan’s Ukrainian pleonasm, tautology, syntactic parallelism, anaphora,
translation: Як хмара, що витає понад схилами й epiphora, anepiphora, epanaphora, amplification,
гаями / Я в роздумах провів багато днів… (Like a cloud gradation, paronomasia, antithesis, oxymoron, and
hovering over the slopes and groves / I spent many days in rhetorical figures.
thought...). Here, Agadzhanyan attempts to compensate
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for the missing authorial comparison with “Я в роздумах Synsemantic refers to the property of a linguistic
провів багато днів (I spent many days in thought),” where element to express meaning only in combination with
the connotation of the lexeme “reflection” to some extent other linguistic elements and within a specific context
implies “loneliness.” However, this approach introduces or situation. Therefore, we consider synsemantic images
arbitrariness into the translation, by imposing additional as integral elements of a poetic form (a system of means
meanings not present in the original (“reflections,” “many of organizing a poetic text). These images not only fulfill
days”), disrupting the rhythm and intonation of the compositional, rhythmic-intonational, and euphonic
original poem. functions but also carry meaningful content or express
the meanings of other images. In this way, they bear an
In contrast, Kysilova translated the poem as: Бреду собі, esthetic and/or communicative load that is actualized in
як та хмаринка, / Що в небі плава в самоті… (I roam, combination with other verbal and paraverbal linguistic
like that little cloud, / That floats alone in the sky...). Here, phenomena relevant to the poetic work within various
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the translation addresses the simile more effectively while contexts.
maintaining rhythm. However, this was achieved at the
expense of a certain figurative impoverishment – omitting
the original figurative reinforcement found in “That floats Autosemantic image level
on high o’er vales and hills.”

Our research indicates that when translating similes,
translators usually employ stylistic devices, such as
metaphor, metonymy, personification, hyperbole, humor, Autologous images:
irony, and sarcasm, to help reproduce the image created – Words in nominative Metalogical images:
– Epithet
by the simile. The author’s intent shapes the lexical- meaning – Simile
semantic direction and expressive-emotional saturation – Metaphor
– Personification
of comparative constructions. Consequently, trope-based – Symbol
comparisons convey both positive and negative logical – Metonymy
associations. Qualitative metaphorical comparisons – Euphemisms
– Antonomasia
often serve as foundations for quantitative hyperbolic – Allusion
comparisons. Translators utilize various methods to convey – Citation
– Irony
the semantic and stylistic characteristics of metaphorical – Idioms
comparisons. Constant comparative expressions may be – Realis
reproduced using full or partial equivalents, tracing, or – Grammar means
– Paraphrases
descriptive techniques. Tracing frequently appears to be – Landscape
the most effective way of conveying original comparative – Special image effects
– Rare words
constructions when the image is sufficiently transparent – Author neologisms
(e.g., obvious motivation) and when its ethnolinguistic – Others
connotation is fairly moderate. Individual-author Figure 1. The autosemantic image level of poetic works. The level can be
comparisons are primarily reproduced through tracing categorized into autologous images and metalogical images.

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 10 doi: 10.36922/ac.5990