Abstract
This work explores how the 20th century English poet Ted Hughes translates one episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses (the "Pyramus and Thisbe" myth included in Hughes's Tales from Ovid) to make it an emblem for his notions about translation. In translating "Pyramus and Thisbe," Hughes removed many of the formal Ovidian elements and amplified the themes of violence and mingling latent in the myth. In doing so, he highlights the concept that communication sometimes necessitates breaking, symbolized primarily by the chink in the wall through which Pyramus and Thisbe whisper to one another. This metaphor for translation corroborates Hughes's discursive assertions that he favors literalness when translating, and yet contradicts the markedly Hughesian poems his translation work produces.
Degree
MA
College and Department
Humanities; English
Rights
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Carter, Carolyn, ""Sealing Their Two Fates with a Fracture": Ted Hughes's "Pyramus and Thisbe" as an Emblem of the Paradox of Translation" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 3423.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3423
Date Submitted
2013-02-13
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd5919
Keywords
Ted Hughes, Ovid, Metamorphoses, translation
Language
English