Assessing the Translation of Parvin Etesami's Selected Poems

Within translation subjects, poetry translation is one of the most controversial issues caused by the existing conflict between form and content. A poetry translator’s main concern is whether to prefer the form over the content or vice versa. In translation studies, literal translation prioritizes the form while free translation concentrates on the content. Literal and free translation in some degree are categorized by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) as Direct and Oblique translations respectively, overall covering seven concrete procedures. Direct translation includes: Borrowing, Calque, and Literal translation while Oblique translation includes: Transposition, Modulation, Equivalence, and Adaptation. This research aimed to look at the works of Parvin Etesami, a 20th century Persian poetess, with the intention of analyzing a selection of English translation of her poems translated by Alaeddin Pazargadi, professor at the University of Tehran, according to Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation model (1995) in order to understand the strategies and procedures most frequently used by the translator, as well as to find the strategy that helps to better convey the message of the original.