Conveying the symbols of Lyuba Yakimchuk’s poetry, ‘Apricots of Donbas’, in English translation

Background. Although the translation of modern Ukrainian poetry has been widely studied, the specific challenge of conveying symbols in Lyuba Yakimchuk’s expressionistic poems has yet to be explored.Contribution to the research field. The present study raises intriguing questions about the possibility of translating symbols in poetry, especially those deeply culturally rooted.Purpose. To analyse how the author uses various symbols in her poetry, decipher their meaning and compare them with how they have been conveyed in English with some conclusions about the equivalency of the chosen options.Methods. This research applies descriptive-analytical and comparative methods, with original Ukrainian poems selected using a sampling technique.Results. The poems in Lyuba Yakimchuk’s collection “Apricots of Donbas” are written in blank verse. However, this fact does not solve the problem of conveying the form and meaning in the English translation since symbolism in her works is sometimes expressed through graphic means, such as split words and lines or phonological means (e.g., alliteration). The main peculiarity is the contextual nature of symbols, as some are related to a particular place (the author’s hometown, Pervomaisk of Luhansk Oblast) or the tragic historical events that began in the east of Ukraine in 2014. All these peculiarities make conveying such symbols in English quite challenging and allow us to conclude about partial untranslatability in some cases.Discussion. This research has shown that poems in the collection “Apricots of Donbas” by Lyuba Yakimchuk are full of vivid and memorable symbols representing her hometown Pervomaisk and her native Luhansk Oblast (apricots, coal mines, earth, water, terricones, ashtray), war (caterpillar, Yum), family and relations with them (blood, phone, cup), and symbolic colours (black, red, white). Though many symbols used in the poems are deeply related to a specific cultural and historical context, the translators mostly managed to convey their meaning in English by using such translation strategies as domestication and foreignization. Symbols tied to the phonological and morphological features of the Ukrainian language presented significant challenges, resulting in a partial loss of semantic load.Future research will explore how symbols in contemporary Ukrainian poetry written after February 24, 2022, reflect the current events in Ukraine.