In this study, two poems from Giacomo Leopardi’s Canti, namely A se stesso and All’Italia, are examined within the framework established by Ayfer Altay regarding the “untranslatable characteristics of poetry.” The poems were initially introduced into the Turkish cultural and literary system through Mehmet Rauf’s work titled İtalyan Tarih-i Edebiyatı (History of Italian Literature). Mehmet Rauf translated certain excerpts from these two poems into Ottoman Turkish in 1329 [1913]. Indeed, Rauf’s work holds particular significance as the first Turkish literary piece about the history of Italian literature, further emphasizing its importance in Turkish culture.

One of the most debated issues in translation studies is the translatability/intranslatability of poetry. As Ayfer Altay points out, poetry translations are generally the most contentious and intricate literary translations. In her article titled “Untranslatables in poetry translation,” Altay systematically addresses the issue of the untranslatability of poetry, providing clarity through concrete examples. She summarizes the untranslatable characteristics of poetry into six main categories: deviations, repetitions, puns, use of proper names, short and elliptical expressions, rhythm, and meter. Altay has addressed the category of “deviations” under four subcategories: “lexical deviations,” “formal syntactic deviations,” “tonal deviations,” and “semantic deviations.” She has conducted a thorough analysis of the category of “repetitions,” breaking it down into five distinct subcategories: “rhyme,” “sound repetitions,” “duplication,” “additional repetitions” and “pun.” Altay’s methodical categorization of untranslatable elements clarifies the challenges involved in translating poetry, thus making it easier to understand.

Mehmet Rauf’s History of Italian Literature is a unique work in Turkish literature, as it is the first literary piece to focus on Italian literature. It serves as an essential source of information on Leopardi and his works. Mehmet Rauf’s work consists of drawing upon four diverse sources and utilizing refined language to discuss Leopardi’s life and works briefly. Additionally, he translated selected verses from the poems All’Italia and A se stesso into Ottoman Turkish. Upon examining the sources utilized by Mehmet Rauf, a notable aspect emerges when considering Alessandro Manzoni’s seminal work, The Betrothed, an eminent novel in the history of Italian literature. Mehmet Rauf’s presentation of the title not in its original Italian form, I Promessi Sposi, but rather as Fiancés, indicates an intermediate language translation, particularly from French. This choice underscores the implication that the translations were conducted using French as an intermediate language. The sections of the aforementioned poems translated into Ottoman Turkish are included in the study in both the Arabic-scripted text and its Latinized version.

With the advent of the nineteenth century, the Turkish cultural and literary framework began to be influenced by Western culture, redirecting its orientation towards the West. With the official introduction of the Tanzimat era, Turkish cultural and literary structure overtly embraced Western influence and many works from Western languages, especially French, were incorporated into our language. Intensive translation activities from Western languages to Ottoman Turkish were observed at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The initial 20 lines of the poem titled All’Italia by Giacomo Leopardi, one of the prominent figures in Italian literary history, and the translation of the poem titled A se stesso into Ottoman Turkish represent the first instances of Leopardi’s poems in Turkish. The first 20 verses of the lengthy poem titled All’Italia are translated into the target text entitled İtalya’ya (To Italy). On the other hand, the poem A se stesso is a short poem translated into Ottoman Turkish under the title of Kendime (To Myself). While the translation of the poem titled All’Italia lacks any specific meter, the poem A se stesso, composed in “endecasillabi” (eleven-syllable verses), is rendered into Ottoman Turkish using the pattern “fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilin (feilün)” in aruz rhythm. Both the source and target texts share a common characteristic: Due to the antiquity of the language employed in both texts, comprehending them without being transferred into contemporary Italian/Turkish through intralingual translation is challenging. In the process of transferring source texts to target texts, especially in the case of poetry, it is natural for some losses to occur, both semantically and formally. In Mehmet Rauf’s translations of Leopardi’s poetry, the inevitability of certain losses underscores the complexity of the translational process, yet this intrinsic aspect also yields valuable insights.