Badr Shakir al-Sayyab in English translations: A critical review with a biographical and socio-historical background (Iraq)

This dissertation explores the political poetry of the modern Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab in English translations. While there are certainly many other influential political poems of al-Sayyab, I am interested in two of his most widely translated poems into English: The "Rain Song" and "Death and the River." I will attempt to read thoroughly these two political poems through six English translations. I look into thematic as well as semantic and rhetorical parallels and/or variances between al-Sayyab's two poems and their selected English translations. In order to do so, I felt compelled to explore the biographical background of the poet as well as some pertinent political and socio-historical facts found in the political interpretation of al-Sayyab's poetry.; I have attempted to reveal the two poems through a chronological interpretative process, recreating their political vision, navigating their intricate folds of meaning and tracing the beautiful secrets of their poetic brilliance.; Before undertaking this endeavor, I address the issue that poetry translation has long been a consideration in translation theory. In Chapter One: Poetry Translation, I look at how poetry translation is conceptualized through some longstanding metaphors and images.; In Chapter Two I present al-Sayyab as he is: a master of political poetry. I have tried to place his poetry within the political context of the period. In this chapter also, I impart as variously as possible several English translations of the most read political poems of al-Sayyab, at times presenting my own translations.; Each of Chapter Three "The Rain Song" and Chapter Four "Death and the River" begins by introducing the long-established political milieu of the poems, moving into a critical review of three selected English translations for each poem. The main intention of my investigation of these translations focuses on how well they reached and/or affected the texture and political themes of the poems and how well the translations encompassed the details of the semantic content, the imagery and tone of the poems and how well they represent or misrepresent al-Sayyab in English.