Indeterminacy of Signs and Poetic Translation

The present study looks at poetry and its translation from a Semiotic point of view within the framework of the Post- Structuralism School. Flickering and indeterminacy of signs in the open poetic discourse, intersemiotic and intertextual relation and cultural codes in poetic text, and relations between translation and semiosphere are considered in this study. Poetic translation is always disputable. One problem, which makes poetic translation difficult, is indeterminacy of sign cultural codes. Certainly, literal translation has no capability of conveying literary quality and in many translation, intersemiotic and intertextual relations and even the nature of signs is changed. The purpose of this study is to show that in translating a poem, some signs are maintained; some are converted to signs related to cultural codes of language; and some are removed. To do this, some poems of Sepehri, Forugh Farokhzad, shamloo and Nima Yushij translated by Karim Imami and Ahmad Mohit were studied to show that indeterminacy of sign intensify poetry translation. In the intercultural context, there are some common codes which make an extended sign context that is semiosphere. This is cultural and historical context-based atmosphere is semiosphere. In translation, the translator goes from one semiosphere to another.