Preserving Rhyme in Poetry Translation: The Translation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146 to Arabic as a Case Study

Poetry translation demonstrates a significant obstacle, balancing aesthetic elements such as rhyme and rhythm with thematic and linguistic fidelity. This study explores the role of a rhyme-driven translation approach in achieving textual fluency in Arabic translations of Shakespearean poetry. The research combines qualitative textual analysis with quantitative empirical data to examine how rhyme preservation influences translation choices, employing a mixed-method approach. Findings reveal that prioritising rhyme while integrating domestication, literalism, and foreignisation results in a natural and fluent target text, depending on the translator’s literary and linguistic capabilities. Empirical results further confirm this fluency, as 68.41% of participants perceived the translation as an original Arabic poem. These insights contribute to the literature on poetry translation strategies, illustrating that a hybrid translation approach can successfully maintain both aesthetic and structural integrity.