Translation as a Test of Assent: Stanisław Barańczak’s Poem Five Postcards from and to Emily Dickinson

Stanisław Barańczak is well known not only as a poet, but also as an extremely prolific translator who became famous for translating the works of Shakespeare and British and American poets. In the 1980s, just before and immediately after his forced political emigration to the United States, he extensively translated religious poets (e.g. ‘metaphysical poets’, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson). This was a rather surprising choice, given the fact that Barańczak was an agnostic, distrustful of the world of religion. On the other hand, however, it was at that time that he introduced in his own poetry (“Atlantis”, “A Postcard from this World”) phrases testing the possibility of religious “real assent” (John Henry Newman’s term). It seems that for Barańczak translation of some poets becomes not only an opportunity to broaden the scope of the Polish language and improve his own technique, but also an attempt to “assent” to the religious vision of the world, which is evoked by the lyric of the poets he admired. The poem Five Postcards from and to Emily Dickinson seems to support such an interpretation. My analyses are inspired by scholars of Barańczak’s work, as well as by those who study literature and religion: Paul Ricoeur and Charles Taylor.

Stanisław Barańczak is well known not only as a poet, but also as an extremely prolific translator who became famous for translating the works of Shakespeare and British and American poets. In the 1980s, just before and immediately after his forced political emigration to the United States, he extensively translated religious poets (e.g. ‘metaphysical poets’, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson). This was a rather surprising choice, given the fact that Barańczak was an agnostic, distrustful of the world of religion. On the other hand, however, it was at that time that he introduced in his own poetry (“Atlantis”, “A Postcard from this World”) phrases testing the possibility of religious “real assent” (John Henry Newman’s term). It seems that for Barańczak translation of some poets becomes not only an opportunity to broaden the scope of the Polish language and improve his own technique, but also an attempt to “assent” to the religious vision of the world, which is evoked by the lyric of the poets he admired. The poem Five Postcards from and to Emily Dickinson seems to support such an interpretation. My analyses are inspired by scholars of Barańczak’s work, as well as by those who study literature and religion: Paul Ricoeur and Charles Taylor.