THE BARD might well be confused were he to read his own sonnets as interpreted by a lecturer at University of Limerick, who has translated William Shakespeare’s sonnets into Irish using iambic pentameter.
Dr Sorcha de Brún, UL lecturer in Modern Irish Language and Literature, has translated several of Shakespeare’s sonnets from English to Irish using iambic pentameter – a rhythm or ‘meter’ the Bard famously used in his works.
The first of these have been published in Comhar literary magazine, with more due later this year.
Explaining why she embarked upon such a difficult task, Dr de Brún said she “was inspired by a couple of different Irish language writers and poets saying to me, ‘no, you cannot translate or bring across iambic pentameter from English to Irish’, and my response was ‘oh I think I can!”
“My main inspiration was the experiences and the emotions that Shakespeare depicts in the sonnets. They are so universal, they are so human, and still relevant today.”
Dr de Brún’s work on the sonnets is closely linked to the innovative research conducted by UL’s Irish department.
“I have a PhD student doing a comparative study on contemporary Irish and English language literature. This is an area that really hasn’t been researched very much, she said.
“Translation is certainly being disrupted by advances in AI … However, I think literature will always need translators, and this is where trans-creation comes into its own, where you not only translate the language, but translate the culture as well.
“For me, the contemporary language is exactly about this kind of thing, having to consider so many different aspects to the language, in terms of geography, history, science. The list goes on, and it is what I believe counts in terms of the survival of the language.
“This is the future of the Irish language, this is where the opportunities are,” added Dr de Brún.
