Literature in Translation: “The End and the Beginning” Contrast Essay “After every war/ someone has to clean up./ Things won’t pick/ themselves up, after all.” (trans.Baranczak and Cavanagh 1-4). A war of enormous proportions has just come to an end and left the city in devastation in Wislawa Szymborska 's poem, “The End and the Beginning.” The city is now in terrible conditions, and the citizens are forced to clean it up along with all the memories to be thrown away from the war. In stanzas seven and eight the reader understands that some people have no idea what happened in the war, but others have a vivid memory if the event that they now have to, “...trudge through sludge and ashes/ through the sofa springs,/ shards of glass/ the bloody
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In these two translations, syntax plays a key role of the creation of the theme in the two different translations. In Baranczak and Cavanaugh’s translation of the poem they make the poem flow easily, and make the poem almost like you are reading a book. This causes the poem to feel less harsh and relaxed. This is done by the continuous use of commas at the end of lines. They put emphasis on the first and last three stanzas of the poem by not using commas in the middle of the stanzas, and finishing the stanzas with periods in each of them. By not using commas in the beginning stanzas, it sets the pace, mood, and the tone of the poem: slow and remorseful of what has happened in the city. As the translators begin to use commas, it helps to show the transition between what is happening in the city to matters of more personal proportions. In contrast, the translation completed by Trzeciak is very choppy. From the use of choppy language it makes the war/poem seem to be very harsh. The lines in each stanza end suddenly and abruptly, this makes the reader feel uncomfortable and puts the reader on their toes the whole poem. The poem in general is also very slow, by the poem being slow it represents how the recovery process of war is very slow. Also, from the use of syntax in this translation it …show more content…
(trans. Baranczak and cavanagh 9-13). The abrupt change in punctuation makes the reader use more time reading the lines, which then causes the reader to reflect more on what he or she is reading. In regards to the effectiveness of the use of syntax in both of the translations, they both serve their own effectiveness. In Trzeciak’s translation she uses abrupt lines changes and little punctuation to create a sense of destruction and sadness in the reader. In Baranczak and Cavanagh’s translation they use commas to make the poem easier to read and they neglect the use of commas in the beginning and the end of the poem to make the reader reflect on what he or she just
In these two translations, syntax plays a key role of the creation of the theme in the two different translations. In Baranczak and Cavanaugh’s translation of the poem they make the poem flow easily, and make the poem almost like you are reading a book. This causes the poem to feel less harsh and relaxed. This is done by the continuous use of commas at the end of lines. They put emphasis on the first and last three stanzas of the poem by not using commas in the middle of the stanzas, and finishing the stanzas with periods in each of them. By not using commas in the beginning stanzas, it sets the pace, mood, and the tone of the poem: slow and remorseful of what has happened in the city. As the translators begin to use commas, it helps to show the transition between what is happening in the city to matters of more personal proportions. In contrast, the translation completed by Trzeciak is very choppy. From the use of choppy language it makes the war/poem seem to be very harsh. The lines in each stanza end suddenly and abruptly, this makes the reader feel uncomfortable and puts the reader on their toes the whole poem. The poem in general is also very slow, by the poem being slow it represents how the recovery process of war is very slow. Also, from the use of syntax in this translation it …show more content…
(trans. Baranczak and cavanagh 9-13). The abrupt change in punctuation makes the reader use more time reading the lines, which then causes the reader to reflect more on what he or she is reading. In regards to the effectiveness of the use of syntax in both of the translations, they both serve their own effectiveness. In Trzeciak’s translation she uses abrupt lines changes and little punctuation to create a sense of destruction and sadness in the reader. In Baranczak and Cavanagh’s translation they use commas to make the poem easier to read and they neglect the use of commas in the beginning and the end of the poem to make the reader reflect on what he or she just