Down with Rhyme? Jules Legras and the Aims of Poetic Translation: Between Literary and Didactic Translation

Abstract

This article examines the criteria for evaluating poetic translation through an analysis of Jules Legras’s reflections and a translation practice developed in the context of teaching French as a foreign language. It argues that translation choices cannot be assessed independently of their intended purpose. An analysis of Réflexions sur l’art de traduire (Legras, 1939) reveals a conception of poetic translation oriented primarily toward literary aims, in which priority is given to rhythm, intonational organization, and the recreation of poetic effect, at the expense of rhyme. This approach is then compared with translations of Ukrainian poems produced for didactic purposes with Ukrainian-speaking learners. In this context, preserving rhyme serves specific objectives, including memorization, the development of phonological awareness, the observation of grammatical and lexical phenomena, and the maintenance of learner motivation. The study thus demonstrates that apparently opposing translation strategies can be equally relevant when they serve different purposes. The criteria for evaluating a poetic translation therefore appear to be closely linked to the aims of the translation and the audience for whom it is intended