Metre and a Gun. The Principles of Poetry Translation by Anton Maria Raffo

Abstract

The article presents the strategies adopted in translating Polish poetry by Anton Maria Raffo (1937–2018), one of the most outstanding Italian translators of Polish literature. In his constant striving to reproduce the metre and, whenever possible, the rhymes, he distinguished himself from the dominating trends of poetry translation in Italy, prescribing the use – and abuse – of vers libre even for metrical and rhymed poetry. Raffo translated poets who still used traditional versification like Jan Kochanowski (a true masterpiece is his translation of Kochanowski’s Pieśni – Odes), Adam Mickiewicz or Bolesław Leśmian, but also XXth-century poets like  Czesław Miłosz, Zbigniew Herbert or Wisława Szymborska, among whose works he selected and translated the poems which present a certain metrical regularity. A.M. Raffo’s lesson was followed by several other translators of Polish poetry in Italy.