Po kładce nad urwiskiem, przymrużając oko. O tłumaczeniu poezji humorystycznej na przykładzie Rymowanek Szymborskiej

The article presents a practical-theoretical reflection on translating humoristic poetry on the basis of the Author’s experience as a translator of Wisława Szymborska’s Rymowanki dla dużych dzieci. Since humor is the dominant function of the text, and laugh is the expected reaction, functional equivalence - rather than semantic equivalence - is here to be pursued. The goal of any translator of humoristic texts is to produce an equivalent effect on the reader. In the case of Szymborska’s Rymowanki, the task is made more difficult by the poetic form, which plays a primary role in generating the comic effect. The Author notices that the three categories of joke – universal, cultural and linguistic - proposed by Debra Raphaelson-West do not take into account such highly formalized utterings as humoristic verses, in which the form is not a mere decoration aiming at potentiating the aesthetic effect, but definitely contributes to generate the humoristic effect. The article shows how the mechanisms of laugh/smile proper of these poetic texts were reproduced in translation following some simple principles, and ends with the proposal to add to Raphaelson-West’s classification a fourth category: the poetic joke.