Czech Translations of Alexander Blok's Poem The Twelve

The detailed comparative analysis of four Czech translations of Alexander Blok's poem The twelve is at the crux of this diploma thesis. Concurrently, it sets the assessment of translation mastery of each translation based on criteria of poetry translation as defined by the signifiant Czech theorecian Jiří Levý. Aesthetic interpretaton of the poem and the description of distinctive features of Block's poetry precede the main part of the thesis. The author comes to a conclusion only two of the translations can be called acceptable to present-day readers (Vojtěch Jestřáb's and Václav Daněk's translations). Nevertheless, the translation by Bohumil Mathesius has a certain aesthetic quality, and if it is looked at from a historical perspective it can be appraised as succeful translation work. The very first translation by young Czech poet Jaroslav Seifert satisfies current poetry translation criteria the least. But there is also an another reason for it: both the Seifert's and Mathesius's translations are greatly influenced by the former language standard (the language obsolescence manifests itself at differet levels). Yet, the latest translations differ too. Jestřáb's method focuses upon stressing exotisicm in his translation, whereas Daněk concentrates on naturalisation. Considering the fact that both..