English Language and Literature Studies; Vol. 9, No. 4; 2019 ISSN 1925-4768 E-ISSN 1925-4776 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 53 The Translatability of Metaphor in Eliot’s The Waste Land: A Comparative Approach Mohamed Ayed Ibrahim Ayassrah 1 & Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi 1 1 University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Terengganu, Malaysia Correspondence: Mohamed Ayed Ibrahim Ayassrah, University Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Terengganu, Malaysia. E-mail: ayasrah@gmail.com Received: October 2, 2019 Accepted: October 23, 2019 Online Published: November 14, 2019 doi:10.5539/ells.v9n4p53 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n4p53 Abstract There is an obvious gap in studying the translatability of metaphor in modern English poetry, particularly in Eliot’s The Waste Land. Furthermore, it is observed that most previous studies about metaphor are in and for English, and only few ones have tackled the translatability of metaphor into another language. However, the current study aims to explore this phenomenon in Eliot’s The Waste Land and three of its Arabic translations. All metaphors of The Waste Land and its three translations are identified, studied and classified into juxtaposed tables to facilitate the comparative process. Then, an assessment of each translation is made to be compared to the original text and the other translations. This comparison aims at identifying the translatability of metaphor in The Waste Land, the most and least used strategy and how the three translators have dealt with the original text. The study also shows that the three translators could translate most of Eliot’s metaphors into Arabic analogous metaphors; Lu’lu’ah uses this strategy the most and Raghib the least. Furthermore, the strategy of paraphrasing the metaphor is used more than the second one (11 cases). Finally, this study suggests three recommendations for further upcoming studies. The first one is: Conducting a comparative study on using metaphor in the spoken languages or dialects of two different societies (the Jordanian and British, for instance). The second is: Exploring this phenomenon in students’ everyday language; and the third is: Investigating the ability of English language students in rendering metaphor from English into Arabic. Keywords: literary works, metaphor, source text, simile, target text, translation 1. Introduction Metaphor is extensively employed in literary works generally and in modern English poetry particularly. Eliot’s The Waste Land, for example, is considered a fascinating-metaphorical poem. However, it is a fantasy to try to understand this poem without grasping its ambiguous metaphorical scenes. Accordingly, translating such complex phenomenon requires a qualified translator, with poetic talent in both English and Arabic poetry, to be able to transfer the original poetic effect and spirit. All of that may make translating these poetic metaphors a challenging duty for Arabic translators which leads to a clear gab in investigating the translatability of metaphor as a cross-cultural phenomenon in modern poetry. Newmark (1981) claims that translating metaphor is considered a complex issue. 1.1 Previous Related Studies Obeidat (1997) studies translating metaphor in Arabic modern poetry and what makes this process easy, difficult or impossible. The results of this study show that metaphors of Arabic modern poetry are mostly translatable into English, but that requires recreating the alike cultural experience in the target language. It is discovered that some metaphors are easy to be translated because they are cross-cultural ones. Finally, it is revealed that a few metaphors are not translatable because the target language does not have a parallel expression for the original metaphorical expression. Al Salem (2014) focuses on translating metaphor from Arabic into English in ten selected poems of Mahmoud Darwish. He states that modern Arabic metaphor, in modern poetry, is usually mistranslated and so misinterpreted in the target language; furthermore, this affects the style, the scene, the theme and the meaning of the original metaphorical expression. The study compares several translators in the strategies of dealing with translating Arabic metaphor in modern poetry. In conclusion, the study shows the translators use several strategies to translate