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A Formalist Analysis of Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" with Reference to Translation
into Arabic
Presentation · November 2006
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28661.88809
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A Formalist Analysis of Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” with
Reference to Translation into Arabic
Maha Tahir Eesa,ph.D
Maha.eesa@qu.edu.iq
University of AL-Qadisiya / College of Education / Dept. of English
2006
Abstract
The formalist analysis represents one of the approaches for
analyzing literature in modern criticism .This approach comprises different
modes of thinking that start with Russian formalism and end with
structuralism .The Russian Formalists mode searches for some aspects
that bring literariness and estrangement to literary texts . These aspects
could be reflected in the content (theme) and the form (literary devices) of
literary works in general and poetry in particular. Unlike form, content is
not important for formalists and it can be reached only through form. A
formalist analysis is applied to Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” to see the extent to
which it helps in analyzing and consequently translating the poem in terms
of these elements: rhythm, sound and syntax with relation to the source and
target texts. Following such approach helps the translator a great deal in
producing an adequate translation that preserves the value of the original
text that resides in its form only because no deep content could be detected
in this simple poem.
1. Formalism
Formalism refers to a general term for literary analysis. It is
concerned with the properties of the text itself. It started with Russian
formalists in the early twentieth century and extended with the Prague
School in the thirties and New Criticism along the forties and fifties
and Structuralism in the fifties and sixties. The search here is confined
to Russian Formalists mode of thoughts.
Formalist analysis emphasizes the autonomous nature of
literature. Works of arts should not be seen as reflective of life . It
isolates literary works and defines their formal properties. It searches
for the devices that bring literariness to literary texts. The essence of
literature is not as important as the form which is seen as the source of
beauty and artfulness.
In their study of poetry and prose Russian formalists pursue
literariness(the use of literary devices). This literariness distinguishes
literary language from the rest of language. It is the object of literature;
an aesthetic function that constitutes a text as a literary text and makes
it a verbal message in which this function is the dominant
(Jacobson,1971:84).Moreover, for Sklovsky, it is a process of
“defamiliarization” which involves “estranging” perception by
deautomizing the reader’s perception ,and impeding his automatic
relations to the objects around. As he argues "The technique of art is to
make objects ‘unfamiliar’, to make form difficult, to increase the
difficulty and length of perception because the practice of perception is
an aesthetic end itself and must be prolonged" ( Sklovsky, 1965:12).
Hence Russian formalists look to the rhythm ,sound ,and
syntax of poetry as literature’s most unique and critically revealing
aspects (Hall,2001:15). These aspects are defined below:
1.1. Rhythm
The Greek word for
rhythm is rhuthmos which means
measured motion(Scott,1967:247).It refers to the flow or movement of
a line , Peck and Coyle (1984:61-62) assert , whether this movement is
slow or fast, calm or troubled. Yet, Drew(1959:41) believes that this
flow is determined by meaning more than meter ,by feeling more than
feet .It refers to the “ freedom the poet can use within his own self
imposed necessity. It is the personal voice speaking through the formal
convention”(ibid).
1.2. Sound
Sounds represent a very important aspect in literary texts
because they convey senses and express moods. They are not used only
to encode meanings but they can be arranged for aesthetic purposes as
well.
Sounds are associated with senses .Some sounds express
certain moods, imitate a natural phenomenon or define a movement .For
example, the English consonant sounds /l/ ,/r/ ,/n/,and /n/ are associated
with softness (Leech,1969:98).
1.3.
Syntax
Syntax
is
the
ground
work
of
the
poet’s
art(Nowottny,1962:9)because poetic syntax is the most powerful
element that makes an utterance meaningful by controlling word order
and consequently the mental order of impressions .
Jacobson (1960) emphasizes the importance of parallelism
,reiteration and repetition of syntactic structures in poetry .Dillon
(1978) also stresses the importance of parallel and repeated structures
in poetry .The sentence pattern has its bearing on content as well .To
illustrate, the SVO or OVS patterns impart different messages and ,thus
,are used for different purposes.
2. Analysis and Translation of the Poem
Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” is a poem of 12 lines. Each line consists of
8 syllables in Iambic tetrameter except lines 2 and 11 which possess 7
syllables. The poem is organized in rhyming couplets aa bb cc dd ee aa .
Trees
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast ;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray ;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair ;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain
Poems are made by fools like me ,
But only God can make a tree.
The poet uses many anthromorphic* imageries .The tree is
depicted as a female that presses its mouth to the earth’s breast raising leafy
arms to pray to God .The earth also is personified as a female nursing the
tree. The (human) female physical attributes are given to both the tree and
earth. The tree and earth are personified in a strange way. Such
defamiliarization is presented in the following translation(by the
researcher):
‫اﻟﺷﺟر‬
‫ﻗﺻﺎﺋد ﺗﺣﻠو ﺣﻠّ َو اﻟﺷﺟر‬
َ
ِ
‫ﺑﻊ ﺟوع اﻟﻔم اﻟﻣﻧﺣــدر‬
َ ‫ﻟﺗُﺷ‬
‫ﯾﺧﯾلُ ﻟﻲ أنْ ﻣﺣﺎلٌ أرى‬
ِ
‫ﺻدرﻫﺎ‬
‫ﺗَ ُد ّر ﻟﻬﺎ اﻷرض ﻣن‬
‫إﻟﻰ اﷲ دوﻣﺎ ﺗطﯾ ُل اﻟﻧظر‬
‫ﯾن ﻓﯾﻪ اﻟﻐرر‬
ّ ‫اﻷزﻫﺎر‬
َ ‫ﻓﺗز‬
ِ ‫ﻟﯾﺻﺣب ﺛﻠﺞ‬
‫اﻟﺷﺗﺎ واﻟﻣطر‬
َ َ
‫ﺣﺳب اﷲ ﺑدﯾﻊُ اﻟﺷﺟر‬
ُ
ِ ‫ﺗﺿرع ﺑﺄﯾدﯾﻬﺎ اﻟﻣور‬
‫ﻗﺎت‬
ّ
‫اﻟﺻﯾف ﻋ ًﺷﺎ ﻣن‬
‫ﯾﻛﺳوﻫﺎ‬
ُ
‫و ﺗرﻧو ﺣﺎﻧﯾﺔ ِﺣﺟرﻫﺎ‬
‫ﻗﺻﺎﺋد ُﻧﻧظم َﺣ َﻣﻘًﺎ وﻟﻛن‬
---------------------------*An anthropomorphism is from a Greek word anthropos , which means human beings,
and
morphe, which means form. It is a modern term that refers to a form of
personification
that
applies human or animal qualities to
an inanimate
objects.(www.Encyclopaedia of Religion.com.
The poem is translated with a poem(metapoem) that has a
different form that is appropriate to Arabic prosody .Each line of the
metapoem has two hemistiches, as called by Wright(1971:351) :‫اﻟﺻدر‬
(
the breast) and ‫( اﻟ ـﻌ ـﺟــز‬the rump).The rhyme of the metapoem is ‫ﻣ ـﻘ ـﯾ ـ ـ ــد‬
(fettered) since each verse ends with a consonant (/r/ sound).It is given this
form :ab ab cb db ab cb .
Grammatical units in the original poem are separated by
semicolons .Such pauses have rhythmic effects. They show a sequence of
descriptive sentences .Setting the verse of the metapoem into two
hemistiches creates such rhythmical pauses. Alliteration in line 6 in “lifts”
and “leafy” and line 8 in “her” and “hair” and line 11 in “made” and “me”
has rhythmical effect .Such alliterative aspect ,which is a source of
literariness, is not lost in the translation ,though with different sounds in
different places .
The translation has these alliterative words: ‫ أن‬، ‫ أرى‬in the first
hemistich( ‫ )اﻟﺻدر‬of the first verse. ‫ اﻟﻔم‬and ‫ اﻟﻣﻧﺣدر‬are alliterative as well in
the second hemistich in the second verse. The words ‫ ﻟﻬﺎ‬and ‫ ﻟﺗﺷ ـ ـ ـ ــﺑﻊ‬are
alliterative as well. The article of definiteness (al) ‫ ال‬that recurs in ‫اﻟﻣورﻗﺎت‬
, ‫ اﻟﻧظر‬, in verse ٣ (in the translation) creates an alliterative effect. Such
rhythm is found also in verse 4 in the words :
‫ اﻷزﻫﺎر‬and ‫ اﻟﻐرر‬and in
verse 5 in ‫ اﻟﺷﺗﺎ‬and ‫ اﻟﻣطر‬.
Sounds in the original poem are associated with the sense. The
sounds /l/ , /r/ , and /n/ are associated with softness to convey tender
atmospheres that suit the feminine images the poem contains. The sound
/r/ recurs 11 times while the sound /l/ recurs 14 times. As for the sound /n/
,it recurs 15 times.
Such a fact(of association between sound and sense) is considered
by the translator though sounds in the metapoem are associated with
different meanings . The sound /r/ in Arabic is associated with “continuity
and consistency” (Sultan,2006:57).It represents the rhyme and recurs in the
breast and rump in each verse in the metapoem. Yet, this sound does not
appear in the breast of the last verse . This breast ends with the sound /n/
which is associated with “pause and termination in Arabic”(ibid.) .Having
this hemistich ends with /n/ shows that the description of the trees does no
more continue and prepares for the end of the poem.
Moreover ,the sound /‫ ح‬/ recurs in the poem to show softness
because this sound is associated with softness and purity in Arabic
(ibid:81). It recurs for 8 times to endow the atmosphere of the poem with
softness.
As for syntax ,one of the important syntactic phenomena in the
poem is parallelism .The poet uses a parallel construction of the indefinite
article “a” plus a noun as in : “a poem” (l.2), “a tree” (ll.3,5,7) and “a nest”.
Moreover ,the construction
“a tree” is repeated 3 times
in lines
2,5,and7.Such a repetition in each line and another endows the text with
beauty and gives the sense that each time “a tree” is mentioned a new
description is to be given to the tree.
The translation shows parallel constructions as well in verses 2,3
and 5 by using simple present whose subject is implied as a pronoun
referring to the earth as in : ‫ﺗدر‬
ّ (l.2) ;and the implicit subject that refers to
the tree in:‫ﺗﺿرع‬
ّ and ‫ ﺗرﻧو‬in lines 3 and 5 respectively.
Another syntactic aspect is the sentence pattern .The passive voice
in line 11 is used to foreground “poems”. Such a foregrounding is
transposed in the translation by means of using a deviated sentence pattern
in Arabic .The word
‫ ﻗﺻـ ــﺎﺋد‬,which is an object, comes at the beginning
of the sentence in the last verse to be foregrounded.
Moreover, the last word in this verse “a tree” is translated as
‫ اﻟﺷ ـ ــﺟر‬and not ‫ اﻷﺷ ـ ــﺟﺎر‬because such a form of plural (‫ )اﻷﺷ ـ ــﺟﺎر‬is used
with specific kind of trees and not for trees in general while the word ‫اﻟﺷﺟر‬
is a cover term for all kinds of trees .Thus, the translation asserts the
Almighty’s power to create different kinds of trees that all these kinds
move their boughs and leaves out of hallelujah praising God for perfecting
their creation.
3. Conclusion
Any attempt to analyze and translate a literary work should start
with adopting a certain approach to make such an analysis fruitful and
such a translation adequate .The formalist approach adopted in analyzing
and translating Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” serves this research a great deal in
revealing the most significant aspects and the peculiarities of the poem so
as to make a literary appreciation that serves translating it adequately .
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 Nowottny ,Winifred .1962.The Language Poets Use .London :The
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Network Sources
WWW.Encyclopaedia of Religion.com.
Wikipedia ,the Free Encyclopedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce
Kilmer
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