First I shall undertake to compare the accentual structure of both the original and the translation. Here follows the pattern of the first stanza which is repeated in all the other parts of the poem:

 

line	lang	accentual pattern  +  stressed syllable *  unstressed syllable	numb  of syll.	Rhythmic group	rhyme
1	B	+ * + * + * + * + * +	11	6	A/m
	E	* ++ * + * + ** + * +	11	6	А/m
2	B	+ * + *** + *** +	11	4	А/m
	E	+ *** + * + * + **	11	4	А/m
3	B	* + *** + + *	8	3	B/f
	E	* + *** ++ *	8	4	B/f
4	B	* + ** + * + *	8	3	B/f
	E	** + * + * + *	8	3	B/f
5	B	+ * +	3	2	А/m
	E	+ * +	3	2	A/m

Looking at the structure of the first stanza we can see that the number of lines, syllables and accentual groups is absolutely equal in Belarusian and English. Line 3 of the translation contains four notional words, but two of them can be pronounced as partially stressed words, thus the rhythmic pattern of the original is reserved (My bay horses, their hooves smiting). The only difference is in the number of intonation groups (in English there are two of them). But in the other four stanzas the accentual and intonation patterns correspond to the original.

The rhyme pattern is AABBA, with the «masculine» partial rhyme in Lines 1, 2, 5 and «faminine» partial rhyme in Lines 3, 4. The translated poem has the same pattern of rhyming. In Stanza 3 the translator could not find words with rhyming vowels, but she compensated for it having used other rhyming letters (slumber, embers).

Larysa Heniush employed a variety of stylistic means. The syntactic structures are preserved in the translation, with the order of sentence elements being changed according to the English rules. For example: вербы гне / bends the willows low, буланыя мае коні / my bay horses, аганёк на полі блудны / a small flame wandered, etc. The repetition in all the cases is also preserved (long, long).

Larysa Heniush is a highly lyrical poet, and as Arnold McMillin states in the introduction to her poems published in London, «the lyrical effect is produced by lexical harmony, intonational structure and the extensive use of imagery».4 The poem under analysis contains a variety of tropes. We choose to compare epithets, similes and metaphors.

Some metaphors used by Larysa Heniush have absolute equivalents which coincide in their stylistic colouring and syntactic structure, and the following metaphors have stylistic changes : smiting, billows, small flame, embers.
In our view, Vera Rich translated the poem line-for-line with the original, moreover, she found apt equivalents for the numerous images created by Larysa Heniush, feeling the romantic frame of mind of the homesick poetress. 
Thus, the poetic and stylistic analysis of the translated poem, compared to the original, shows that Vera Rich succeeded in creating a lyrical verse in English, having preserved the spirit, the imagery and the arrangement in the best possible way.

The author of the present article has also done some amateur translations of the verses written by four poets coming from Zelva, the land where Larysa Heniush spent her last years of life and found her eternal rest. I offer my translations to the readers of Annus Albaruthenicus with hopes that they will stand the test or, at least, will be understood by English readers. These are short lyrical poems by Larysa Heniush, Yurka Holub, Mikhas Skobla, Uladzimer Mazgo and Danuta Dabrynina.5

MY NATIVE LAND

Larysa Heniush

My native land, my quiet home,
to your sad songs, against the wheat,
with its strong wings, in the grove’s dome 
the northern gale ringingly beat.

My native land, recalling you 
my body pains, heart sadly wails,
blood throbs in veins. Your smell and hue 
charmed me away to fields and vales.
On sunny days, at starless nights 
my soul, my lark, driven by grief,
flies like a spark to the blue heights,
to the pines’ tops that sway belief.

My native land, my flowery mead!
My loyal heart, by dreams caressed,
will dart to maples, golden and red,
with a calm sigh to eternal rest.

The one, who grew with the wind’s sound,
with stormy dreams played in the sand, 
in babbling streams spring fragrance found -
He’ll never leave his native land.



BIRDS OF BELARUS

Yurka Holub

The birds bring in their bills and 
on their tails,
in their claws
a lot of various omens,
which correctly and exactly
foretell us where
there are twitters
at forest gatherings,
where marshes have been drained,
and all the frogs have died out
like huge mammoths,
where shooting has just started
(though it’s too early),
where a festive fair
is to take place
before flying to warm lands.
And even the most ominous bird,
the Raven,
has brought good news:
I have fun, by the way,
doing nothing.


THE CLOUDS 

Mikhas Skobla

The clouds are not aware
that they are part of the heavens,
that they,
born in the swamps and quags, 
and in rusty fogs,
and in poisonous smoke,
belong to Your Highness Sky.

The clouds bathe in patches of sunlight,
hide from lightnings
under the rainbow’s parasol,
clasp, racing one another,
with warm southern winds.

Whatever for
do they, sublime,
white as snow,
feathered with angels,
need this, chilled with draughts, Earth?

But the clouds
during an endless noon
keep on hanging
over Motherland.


***

Uladzimer Masgo

I envy the trees:
They take
Deep roots in the native
Land.
I envy the trees:
They rise
Very high, up to
The Heavens.
Here,
Under a pine-tree
The tzar-mushroom
Takes off his hat.
Here the stamps and the boughs
Are all moss-grown,
But the souls here
Are never moss-grown.


MELTED SNOW

Danuta Dabrynina

Like water from the melted snow,
Like a tender breath of love,
Springs and summers come and go.
Do you love me? - you want to know.

In my thoughts I’m always with you,
Like water they whirl in the spring,
Like bluebells of marvellous hue
In the woods they happily ring.