Anatomia aliteracji. J.R.R. Tolkien jako tłumacz poematu Pan Gawen i Zielony Rycerz

The article presents a short comparative analysis of two versions of the English ro mance in verse Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – the original text from the 14th century and its modern translation by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Middle English source text uses a North-West English dialect and is an interesting example of a late revival of alliteration originally rooted in the old English tradition. Alliteration as a formal organizing principle is combined with end-rhymes which complete the structure of the poem; this is both sophisticated and rare. Tolkien’s modern rendition of the romance recognizes and respects its dominant structural elements and attempts to recreate all the formal aspects of the text as adequately as possible. The modern version, while being a translation, acquires the semi-authorial signature of Tolk ien, both a translator and scholar who creates a highly competent and historically informed rendition. The translator’s craft is particularly visible when Tolkien’s ver sion is juxtaposed with the Polish translation by Andrzej Wicher. The linguistic and cultural distance between Polish and English is larger than the distance between the original and the modern rendition in English, and, as a result, the translation of Andrzej Wicher manages to reproduce only a limited number of alliterations and hence loses many artistic features that were essential components of the original text.