Study of Translating Semantic Oppositions of Hafez's Poems in Translation of Ali Abbas Zoleikhe

Abstract

The language of Hafez's poetry is very delicate and mysterious. In his sonnets (Qazals), the words have been accurately selected with great aesthetic taste. In such a way, all the words are somehow connected and intertwined with each other. One of the linguistic features of Hafez is the collocation of oppositions together. Oppositions used in Hafez's poems not only have explicit and implicit semantic connections but also are related to other words. Therefore, understanding the conceptual relationship of words, and in particular, oppositions, plays a great role in discovering the meaning and the elegance of Hafez's poetry. Hence, in this study, an attempt has been made to select examples of "gradable, complementary, symmetrical, directional, lexical, and implicit” oppositions in Hafez's sonnets. Also, the conceptual relationship with other words of the verse will be analyzed and its semantic and aesthetic function will be explained. Subsequently, Ali Abbas Zoleikhe's translation of semantic oppositions and their functions will be discussed and criticized. The results of the research indicate that the oppositions in question, especially implicit oppositions, have created many clear and hidden rhetorical meanings in poetry and the slightest change in the oppositions and balance of words leads to the reduction of coherence and meaning of the verse.

Keywords

• poem translation
• semantic oppositions
• conceptual relations
• hafez
• ali abas zoleikhe