We must always be careful when analyzing a translation of a poem

because it can rarely fully reflect the original meaning. It is important to

remember that good art translations follow the rythm of the original work
in addition to preserve the writer’s style. It is particularly difficult for a
translator to transform poetic images so that they carry the same various
meanings in the translation. Lőrinc Szabó's work on the poem called
Daffodils by Wordsworth is a masterpiece of Hungarian literature. The
landscape of Wordsworth is mainly a projection of an internal scenery,
which carries out spiritual events. Therefor, there is always a double
meaning behind it. One is the actual
physical land, and the other one is the
metaphorical meaning. The work is
describing a spiritual awakening of the
artist as a poem of wonder. Such an
epiphany experience is also
reconstructed in Lőrinc Szabó’s poem.
The everyday sight of the lakeside daffodils are transformed into a
mysterious metaphor of the world of mysteries. The vision evokes the
lyrical and gloomy mood of the poet. We can see the original artist is
shifting towards the romantic theme. The translation of Lőrinc Szabó also
enhances the romance by adding the rarer and more vibrant colors of the
fire lilies instead of using the yellow daffodils common in the English
countryside. He also brings a series of fire metaphors that did not appear
in the original text. These metaphors are highly effective, however they
can also transform the original text. The memories of fire lilies are
bringing out the inner joyfulness of the artist which could mean that the
poets emotions have higher priorites than the actual landscape.

The agressive colour of the fire lilies

in Lőrinc Szabó’s poem suggest

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restlessness, in opposition of the glowing golden colour of the sun and the
stars.

The first three verses are a recollection of a past experience, and the last
is the aftermath of this experience actually a change in worldview. In the
poem he creates the atmosphere of the work by evoking his state of mind,
which was characterized by meditative contemplation. The dynamic of the
poem is created by the poets lyrical mood. In the original text the
daffodils cheerful dance brighten Wordworth’s mood: „fluttering and
dancing in the breeze”. Lőrinc Szabó turns this around by using a
different, more melancholic and gloomy discription of the flowers:
„ringtak, táncoltak álmatag.” With the „cloud”-simile the speaker
describes how he walked around and felt as lonely as a cloud. He doesn’t
say, "wandered around," like in Wordworth’s poem which is a much more
descriptive word than "walked/sétáltam” in Lőrinc Szabó’s translation.
"Wandered" means roaming around without a purpose, like when you
explore something. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But in its
metaphorical use, "wandered" can mean feeling purposeless and
directionless in general. As in, you have questions like, "What’s the
meaning of my life?" Suddenly ("all at once"), he sees a group of daffodil
flowers. We tend to think of daffodils as "yellow," but he uses the more
majestic-sounding "golden." Unlike in the version of L. Szabó he meets
the sight of the fire lilies which suddenly unfolds before his eyes, and
immediately their anthropomorphized image appears: „ringtak, táncoltak”.
That is how he prepares the poem’s myterious mood and it’s metaphysical
meaning.

In the second verse emphasizes the point that there are a whole lot of
flowers. More than he has probably ever seen before. The flowers stretch
"continuously," without a break, like the stars in the Milky Way galaxy,
each one gleaming like a star. The comparison to stars provides new
evidence that the speaker is trying to make us think of angels or other
heavenly beings. The flowers "toss their hands" while dancing to the wind.

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By "heads" we think he means the part of the flower with the petals, the
weight of which causes the rest of the flower to bob. "Sprightly" means
happily or merrily. The word derives from "sprite," which refers to the
playful little spirits that people once thought inhabited nature. "Sprites"
are supernatural beings, almost like fairies.

In the third verse, Wordsworth begins: "The waves were dancing beside
them," Lőrinc Szabó uses a more visual image: "tűztanc volt a tó is. The
point is that the entire scene has suddenly been invested with a joyful
human-like presence. Since waves do not bring as much joy as the
flowers, the flowers "out-did" the water with their happiness. The waves
"sparkle," which creates yet another association with the stars. Everything
seems to be gleaming and twinkling and shining and sparkling.

The flowers and waves feel like companions to him. They are all pals. Or,
as he puts at, with such joyful and carefree ("jocund") "company" to hang
out with. The repetition of "gaze" tells us that he kept looking at the
flowers for a long time. It's as if the speaker enjoys looking at these
flowers at the time, but doesn’t realize exactly how great of a gift he has
just received with this vision. This mystical sight lives on in his memory,
which he expresses with the metaphor of the "inner eye / belső
szemem”and this memory becomes an inspiring force and through it the
poet recognises the mystery of the world, which is hidden in the nature
and in the world around us.

If we compare the English text with the Hungarian translation, we can see
that Lőrinc Szabó uses more anthropomorphisms than Wordsworth. In the
original for example the daffodils are "fluttering and dancing in the
breeze", in the translation Lőrinc Szabó adds the word "dreamy/álmatag”,
which reflects the lyrical self’s state of mind.

The last verse also shows a difference, where Lőrinc Szabó also
anthropomorphizes the „night” like „merengő éjeken”. We can see that in
both versions when the memory of the flowers, daffodils or fire lilies

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flashes into the poet’s head, he feels happy again. His heart is set to
dancing, just like the flowers. He dances along "with" them – they are his
cheerful companions once again.”

This piece of work also shows us how difficult is to translate because of

the language diferences. It is not possible to translate a poem from word
to word, however the translator has to follow the original rhytm of the
poem. In conclusion the hungarian translation correctly reflects the
romantic style of the original work.