The art of the metaphor - Jane Hirshfield

Translator: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Senzos Osijek

When we talk, sometimes we say things directly.

Kada pričamo nekad kažemo stvari direktno.

"I'm going to the store, I'll be back in five minutes."

"Idem u trgovinu, doći ću za pet minuta."

Other times though, we talk in a way that conjures up a small scene.

Nekad pričamo na način da prizivamo malu scenu.

"It's raining cats and dogs out," we say,

"Vani padaju psi i mačke," kažemo.

or "I was waiting for the other shoe to drop."

ili "Čekao sam da padne druga cipela."

Metaphors are a way to talk about one thing

Metafore su način na koji pričamo o jednoj stvari

by describing something else.

opisujući nešto drugo.

That may seem roundabout, but it's not.

Možda se čini kao duži put, ali nije.

Seeing and hearing and tasting are how we know anything first.

Gledanje i slušanje i okus su načini kako nešto saznajemo.

The philosopher William James described the world of newborn infants

Filozof William James opisao je svijet novorođenčadi

as a "buzzing and blooming confusion."

kao "zujeću i cvjetajuću zbunjenost."

Abstract ideas are pale things

Apstraktne ideje su biljede stvari

compared to those first bees and blossoms.

kada ih usporedimo sa pčelama i cvjetovima.

Metaphors think with the imagination and the senses.

Metafore razmišljaju maštom i osjetilima.

The hot chili peppers in them explode in the mouth and the mind.

Vruće papričice u njima eksplodiraju u ustima i umu.

They're also precise.

Također su precizne.

We don't really stop to think about a raindrop

Ne stajemo kako bismo razmišljali o kapljicama kiše

the size of an actual cat or dog,

veličine pasa i mačaka,

but as soon as I do,

ali kada počnemo,

I realize that I'm quite certain the dog has to be a small one --

shvatim da bi pas morao biti zaista malen -

a cocker spaniel, or a dachshund --

koker španijel, ili jazavčar --

and not a golden Lab or Newfoundland.

a ne labrador ili retriver.

I think a beagle might be about right.

Mislim da bi bigl mogao biti taman.

A metaphor isn't true or untrue in any ordinary sense.

Metafora nije istinita ili neistinita u bilo kojem smislu.

Metaphors are art, not science,

Metafore su umjetnost, ne znanost,

but they can still feel right or wrong.

ali i dalje mogu biti prave ili krive.

A metaphor that isn't good leaves you confused.

Metafora koja nije dobra ostavlja vas zbunjenima.

You know what it means to feel like a square wheel,

Znate što znači biti kockasti kotač,

but not what it's like to be tired as a whale.

ali ne kako je biti umoran kao kit.

There's a paradox to metaphors.

Postoji paradoks u metaforama.

They almost always say things that aren't true.

Većinom kažu stvari koje nisu istinite.

If you say, "there's an elephant in the room,"

Ako kažete, "slon je u sobi,"

there isn't an actual one,

nema stvarnog slona,

looking for the peanut dish on the table.

koji traži kikiriki na stolu.

Metaphors get under your skin by ghosting right past the logical mind.

Metafore se zavuku pod kožu prolazeći pored logičnog uma.

Plus, we're used to thinking in images.

A i navikli smo misliti u slikama.

Every night we dream impossible things.

Svake noći sanjamo nemoguće stvari.

And when we wake up, that way of thinking's still in us.

I kada se probudimo, taj način razmišljanja još je u nama.

We take off our dream shoes,

Skinemo naše cipele za snove,

and button ourselves into our lives.

i zakopčamo se u naše živote.

Some metaphors include the words "like" or "as."

Neke metafore uključuju riječi "kao" ili "poput."

"Sweet as honey," "strong as a tree."

"Slatko kao med," "snažno poput drveta."

Those are called similes.

To su poredbe.

A simile is a metaphor that admits it's making a comparison.

Poredba je metafora koja priznaje da radi usporedbu.

Similes tend to make you think.

Poredbe vas tjeraju na razmišljanje.

Metaphors let you feel things directly.

Metafore vam dozvoljavaju da stvari osjećate direktno.

Take Shakespeare's famous metaphor,

Uzmite za primjer Shakespearovu slavnu metaforu.

"All the world's a stage."

"Čitav svijet je pozornica.

"The world is like a stage" just seems thinner, and more boring.

"Svijet je poput pozornice," čini se tanje, i dosadnije.

Metaphors can also live in verbs.

Metafore također mogu živjeti u glagolima.

Emily Dickinson begins a poem,

Emily Dickinson započinje pjesmu,

"I saw no way -- the heavens were stitched --"

"Nisam vidjela put -- nebesa su bila zašivena --"

and we know instantly

i odmah smo znali

what it would feel like if the sky were a fabric sewn shut.

kako bi bilo da je nebo zašivena tkanina.

They can live in adjectives, too.

Može živjeti i u pridjevima, takođre.

"Still waters run deep," we say of someone quiet and thoughtful.

"Mirne vode teku duboko," kažemo za nekog tihog i misaonog.

And the deep matters as much as the stillness and the water do.

I dubina je važna isto kao i mirnoća i voda.

One of the clearest places to find good metaphors is in poems.

Jedno od najboljih mjesta za pronalazak metafora je u pjesmama.

Take this haiku by the 18th-century Japanese poet Issa.

Pogledajte ovaj haiku japanskog pjesnika iz 18. stoljeća Isse.

"On a branch floating downriver, a cricket singing."

"Na grani koja pluta niz rijeku, cvrčak pjeva."

The first way to meet a metaphor is just to see the world through its eyes:

Prvi način da se metafora upozna je vidjeti svijet kroz njene oči:

an insect sings from a branch passing by in the middle of the river.

insekt pjeva s grane, prolazeći rijekom.

Even as you see that though,

Čak i kad vidite to,

some part of you recognizes in the image

jedan dio vas prepoznaje u slici

a small portrait of what it's like to live in this world of change and time,

mali portret kako je to živjeti u ovom svijetu promjene i vremenu,

our human fate is to vanish, as surely as that small cricket will,

naša ljudska sudbina je nestati, kao što će zasigurno i mali cvrčak,

and still, we do what it does.

a ipak, mi činimo što i on.

We live, we sing.

Živimo, pjevamo.

Sometimes a poem takes a metaphor and extends it,

Ponekad pjesma uzima metaforu i produžuje ju,

building on one idea in many ways.

gradeći na jednoj ideji na puno načina.

Here's the beginning of Langston Hughes' famous poem

Ovo je početak slavne pjesme Langston Hughesa,

"Mother to Son."

"Majka sinu."

"Well, son, I'll tell you.

"Pa sine, reći ću ti.

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Život za mene nisu bile kristalne stube.

It's had tacks in it, and splinters,

Imale su čavle, i iverje,

and boards torn up,

i pokidane daske,

and places with no carpet on the floor."

i mjesta bez tepiha na podu."

Langston Hughes is making a metaphor that compares

Langston Hughes radi metaforu koja uspoređuje

a hard life to a wrecked house you still have to live in.

težak život sa uništenom kućom u kojoj i dalje morate živjeti.

Those splinters and tacks feel real,

To iverje i čavli čine se stvarni,

they hurt your own feet and your own heart,

ozljeđuju naša stopala, i naše srce.

but the mother is describing her life here,

ali majka ovdje opisuje svoj život,

not her actual house.

ne stvarnu kuću.

And hunger, and cold, exhausting work and poverty

I glad, i hladnoća, i iscrpljujući posao i siromaštvo

are what's also inside those splinters.

su također u tom iverju.

Metaphors aren't always about our human lives and feelings.

Metafore nisu uvijek o ljudskom životu i osjećajima.

The Chicago poet Carl Sandburg wrote,

Pjesnik Carl Sandburg iz Chicaga napisao je

"The fog comes on little cat feet.

"Magla dolazi na malim mačjim nogama.

It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches,

Sjedi gledajući na luku i grad u tihom isčekivanju,

and then moves on."

i onda nastavlja."

The comparison here is simple.

Usporedba ovdje je jednostavna.

Fog is being described as a cat.

Magla je opisana kao mačka.

But a good metaphor isn't a puzzle,

Ali dobra metafora nije zagonetka,

or a way to convey hidden meanings,

ili način za isporuku skrivenog značenja.

it's a way to let you feel and know something differently.

To je način da osjetite nešto i znate nešto na drugačiji način.

No one who's heard this poem forgets it.

Nitko tko je čuo ovu pjesmu ne zaboravljaju.

You see fog,

Vidite maglu,

and there's a small grey cat nearby.

i malu sivu mačku u blizini.

Metaphors give words a way to go beyond their own meaning.

Metafore daju riječima način da idu dalje od vlastitog značenja..

They're handles on the door of what we can know,

One su ručke na vratima onoga što bi mogli znati,

and of what we can imagine.

i onoga što možemo zamisliti.

Each door leads to some new house,

Svaka vrata vode u novu kuću,

and some new world that only that one handle can open.

i u neki novi svijet koji samo ta jedna ručka može otvoriti.

What's amazing is this:

Čudesno je ovo:

by making a handle,

stvarajući ručku,

you can make a world.

možete stvoriti svijet.