On Translating Rüştü Onur

Translating the Turkish Romantic poet Rüştü Onur presents a formidable challenge, particularly in terms of punctuation. While English readers may frequently sense the need for more punctuation, this issue also persists for Turkish readers. It is crucial to remember that Onur wrote in the early twentieth century, a time when the Turkish Republic had recently adopted the Latin alphabet, and grammatical and lexical standardization was still in flux. We have, however, endeavoured to preserve the authenticity of his original style throughout the translation. Additionally, like many Romantics, Onur died at a young age, and his work contains occasional grammatical, lexical, and punctuation inconsistencies, some of which are likely attributable to his youth. Yet, many of these choices seem deliberate, such as his omission of commas at the end of lines, allowing the natural flow between verses to act as pauses. These stylistic choices may result from Onur’s tie to the Garip Movement, a mid twentieth-century literary movement in Turkey. The Garip poets rejected traditional rules and forms, advocating for simplified language and demonstrating that poetry could achieve harmony without meter and rhyme. They incorporated conversational language and tone and often drew upon everyday life for their themes. Onur’s poetry, with its flexible and unstructured style, reflects this ethos. His deviations from conventional grammar and punctuation may well have been intentional, as he sought a more fluid and intuitive style, aligned with the movement’s innovative spirit.

Another central challenge in translating Onur’s poetry mirrors the timeless struggle faced by all who seek to bridge poetry across languages: capturing not only the words but the layers of meaning within them. Onur’s verses are so intricately and sophisticatedly woven that their interpretation can yield entirely different meanings depending on the reader’s perspective. This complexity is undoubtedly heightened by Onur’s masterful use of Turkish, a language both laconic and metaphorical, where a single word can carry multiple meanings. We have endeavored to preserve these layers of meaning where possible, but in instances where conveying all interpretations simultaneously proved impossible, we have made our own interpretative choices. For instance, in the poem “Laughter,” the word “oyun” holds multiple meanings—game, playfulness, and pretense. While the context permits all these interpretations to coexist, no single English word captures the full spectrum of meanings. We chose "pretense," as it seemed more fitting within the poem's religious context, where this interpretation resonates most strongly.

Another significant aspect of Onur’s work, as can be observed in his poems “Clouds” and “The Journey,” is his precise and deliberate use of maritime terminology. Living in the coastal city of Zonguldak, Onur was deeply immersed in maritime culture, and his poetry reflects this mastery, from ships and marine flora to the creatures inhabiting the sea. His profound understanding of these maritime elements infuses his poetry with a unique precision and richness, a quality we have meticulously sought to preserve in the translation.