This study explores the poetic works of two major Dutch modernist poets, Martinus Nijhoff (1894-1953) and Gerrit Achterberg (1905-1962), from the point of view of translation. Both poets created their poems with a strong attention to formal qualities, with consequent stylistic effects which may be difficult to translate. Through a combination of critical analysis and translation-based creative practice the thesis examines which aspects of form seem most salient in the work of each poet and which aspects, therefore, the translator-poet might attempt to convey in translation. In Chapter 1 the guiding notion of the thesis is examined. Since both poets placed a strong emphasis on process as central to their poetics, a similar process-based approach is proposed as a route into the translation of their poems. This is followed by an initial commentary which examines some of my own earlier, and problematic, translation strategies. The study is then structured so that the specific aspects of form explored in each of the main chapters, rhythm (Chapter 2), phrasing, pausing and breath (Chapter 3), and sound and iconicity (Chapter 4), are inter-punctuated with further commentaries in which these aspects are approached through practical experiments. The commentaries are intended not only to exemplify my own translation process, but also to suggest several innovative models for a psychophysiological approach to formal poetic translation. My aim has been twofold: to find ways of representing formally salient aspects of Nijhoff’s and Achterberg’s poetry in translations which are also poems, and to make their work better known beyond the Dutch literary system. I conclude that a whole-body attention to the aspects of form explored in this study, coupled with a non-schematic approach to rhyme, may help the translator find a way out of the blind alley created by the opposition between free and formal translation.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate in detail certain aspects of Hadewijch's poetic form which have never been made the subject of an independent study. While taking into account what has been written on the subject -mostly as part of general studies - my conclusions are the result of independent judgment based on the poems themselves. The introductory chapter is concerned with the meaning of the central concept of the Strofische Gedichten, Minne, and its function in the poems. Various aspects of stanza-structure are then considered, including the variety of stanza-forms and the different types of rhyme: also the use of stress-verse and the musical effect produced by the combination of lines of different numbers of stresses and varying stress-patterns, and of similar and dissimilar sounds. In this connection I also consider the question of whether the songs were set to music. The use of rhetorical techniques to heighten interest or add emphasis is also discussed, paying special attention to different forms of repetition - of words, phrases or ideas - and to the frequent use of contrast and paradox, as well as to less common features such as personification and irony. Considerable study is devoted to the imagery, summarizing and classifying the different types employed and the way in which they are used, and distinguishing between those drawn directly from the troubadour convention and those personal to Hadewijch. Finally, the overall structure of the poems is investigated and two poems analysed in detail. I have tried to demonstrate where relevant the extent to which Hadewijch adheres to troubadour convention or, alternatively, modifies it, and also the manner in which her choice of form, techniques and imagery is governed by her complex character, thus creating great poetry in a largely stereotyped genre.