Chapter 15

The truth is that, in translated as in original literature the permanent and the transitory elements are often oddly mingled. The fate of Pope's Homer helps us to reconcile two opposed views regarding the future history of verse translations. Our whole study of the varying standards set for translators makes us feel the truth of Mr. Lang's conclusion: "There can be then, it appears, no final English translation of Homer. In each there must be, in addition to what is Greek and eternal, the element of what is modern, personal, and fleeting."[459] The translator, it is obvious, must speak in the dialect and move in the measures of his own day, thereby very often failing to attract the attention of a later day. Yet there must be some place in our scheme for the faith expressed by Matthew Arnold in his essays on translating Homer, that "the task of translating Homer into English verse both will be re-attempted, and may be re-attempted successfully."[460] For in translation there is involved enough of creation to supply the incalculable element which cheats the theorist. Possibly some day the miracle may be wrought, and, in spite of changing literary fashions, we may have our English version of Homer in a form sufficient not only for an age but for all time.

It is this incalculable quality in creative work that has made theorizing on the methods of translation more than a mere academic exercise. Forced to adjust itself to the facts of actual production, theory has had to follow new paths as literature has followed new paths, and in the process it has acquired fresh vigor and flexibility. Even as we leave the period of Pope, we can see the dull inadequacy of a worn-out collection of rules giving way before the honest, individual approach of Cowper. "Many a fair precept in poetry," says Dryden apropos of Roscommon's rules for translation, "is like a seeming demonstration in the mathematics, very specious in the diagram, but failing in the mechanic operation."[461] Confronted by such discrepancies, the theorist has again and again had to modify his "specious" rules, with the result that the theory of translation, though a small, is yet a living and growing element in human thought.

FOOTNOTES:

[365] _Preface to the Reader_, in _The Natural History of C. Plinius Secundus_, London, 1601.

[366] _Dedication_, in _Ovid's Metamorphosis, Englished by G. S._, London, 1640.

[367] _Dedication_, in _The Poems of Horace rendered into Verse by Several Persons_, London, 1666.

[368] _Juvenal and Persius_, translated by Barten Holyday, Oxford, 1673 (published posthumously).

[369] _Dedication of the Aeneis_, in _Essays of John Dryden_, ed. W. P. Ker, v. 2, p. 235.

[370] _Postscript to the Reader_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 243.

[371] _Rowe_, in _Lives of the Poets_, Dublin, 1804, p. 284.

[372] _The Argument_, in _The Passion of Dido for Aeneas_, translated by Edmund Waller and Sidney Godolphin, London, 1658.

[373] _Dedication_, in _Translations of Horace_. John Hanway, 1730.

[374] _Dedication_, dated 1728, reprinted in _The English Poets_, London, 1810, v. 20.

[375] _Preface_ to _The Destruction of Troy_, in Denham, _Poems and Translations_, London, 1709.

[376] _To the courteous not curious reader._

[377] Comment on Trapp's "blank version" of Virgil, in _Life of Dryden_.

[378] _Preface to Sylvae_, _Essays_, v. 1, p. 266.

[379] _Dedication of the Aeneis_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 236.

[380] In _Du Bartas, His Divine Words and Works_, translated by Sylvester, London, 1641.

[381] Lines by E. G., same edition.

[382] Same edition, p. 322.

[383] _An Essay on Translated Verse._

[384] _Dedication of the Aeneis_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 220.

[385] P. 222.

[386] _To the worthy reader._

[387] _To the courteous not curious reader_, in _The XII. Aeneids of Virgil_, 1632.

[388] Preface to _The Destruction of Troy_.

[389] Dedication of _The Poems of Horace_.

[390] _To the Reader_, in _The First Book of Virgil's Aeneis_, London, 1688.

[391] Reprinted in _Godfrey of Bulloigne_, translated by Fairfax, New York, 1849.

[392] _Essays_, v. 2, p. 249.

[393] _Essays_, v. 2, p. 14.

[394] Sprat, _Life of Cowley_, in _Prose Works of Abraham Cowley_, London, 1826.

[395] _Preface to the Translation of Ovid's Epistles_, _Essays_, v. 1, p. 237.

[396] _Dedication of Examen Poeticum_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 10. Johnson, writing of the latter part of the seventeenth century, says, "The authority of Jonson, Sandys, and Holiday had fixed the judgment of the nation" (_The Idler_, 69), and Tytler, in his _Essay on the Principles of Translation_, 1791, says, "In poetical translation the English writers of the sixteenth, and the greatest part of the seventeenth century, seem to have had no other care than (in Denham's phrase) to translate language into language, and to have placed their whole merit in presenting a literal and servile transcript of their original."

[397] In Lucan's _Pharsalia_, translated May, 1659.

[398] _To the Reader_, in Ovid's _Metamorphosis_, translated Sandys, London, 1640.

[399] _Preface_ to _Pindaric Odes_, reprinted in _Essays and other Prose Writings_, Oxford, 1915.

[400] _Preface to Ovid's Epistles_, _Essays_, v. 1, p. 239.

[401] Pp. 239-40.

[402] Dedication to Dryden, 1684, in _The Odes, Satires, and Epistles of Horace done into English_, London, 1688.

[403] _Metellus his Dialogues, Relation of a Journey to Tunbridge Wells, with the Fourth Book of Virgil's Aeneid in English_, London, 1693.

[404] _Preface to the Translation of Ovid's Epistles_, _Essays_, vol. 1, p. 240.

[405] _To the Earl of Roscommon on his excellent Essay on Translated Verse._

[406] In Sir Robert Howard's _Poems_, London, 1660.

[407] In Holiday's _Persius_, Fifth Edition, 1650.

[408] In Creech's _Lucretius_, Third Edition, Oxford, 1683.

[409] In Creech's _Lucretius_, Third Edition, Oxford, 1683.

[410] _Essay on the Principles of Translation_, Everyman's Library, pp. 45-6.

[411] _Essays_, v. 1, p. 252.

[412] _Preface to the Translation of Ovid's Epistles_, _Essays_, v. 1, p. 241.

[413] _Preface to Sylvae_, _Essays_, v. 1, p. 254.

[414] _Ibid._, p. 264.

[415] _Preface_, in Second Edition of _Odes of Horace_, London, 1688.

[416] _Examen Poeticum_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 9.

[417] _Preface to the Fables_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 251.

[418] _To the Reader_, in _The Odes, Satires, and Epistles of Horace_, London, 1688.

[419] _Preface_ to translation of Horace, 1652.

[420] _Dedication of the Eneis_, _Essays_, v. 2, pp. 220-1.

[421] _Preface to Sylvae_, _Essays_, v. 1, pp. 256-7.

[422] _Examen Poeticum_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 14.

[423] _Preface._

[424] _Essays_, v. 2, p. 10.

[425] _Dedication of the Eneis_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 223.

[426] _Preface to Sylvae_, _Essays_, v. 1, p. 255.

[427] _Essays_, v. 1, p. 258.

[428] _Dedication of the Eneis_, _Essays_, v. 2, p. 215.

[429] In _Ovid's Metamorphoses translated by Dryden, Addison, Garth_, etc., reprinted in _The English Poets_, v. 20.

[430] _Advertisement_ to _Elegies of Tibullus_, reprinted in same volume.

[431] _Preface_ to _Idylliums of Theocritus_, reprinted in same volume.

[432] _Dissertation on The Lusiad_, reprinted in _The English Poets_, v. 21.

[433] _Pope_, in _Lives of the Poets_, p. 568.

[434] _Cowley_, in _Lives_, p. 25.

[435] Preface of 1718, reprinted in _The Works of Virgil translated into English blank verse by Joseph Trapp_, London, 1735.

[436] _Preface to Homer's Iliad._

[437] _Dryden_ in _Lives of the Poets_, p. 226.

[438] _Proposals for a translation of Virgil's Aeneis in Blank Verse_, London, 1713.

[439] _Preface_, _op. cit._

[440] _Prefatory Dedication_, in _The Works of Virgil in English Verse_, London, 1763.

[441] _Advertisement_, _op. cit._

[442] _Preface_ to _Ariosto_, reprinted in _The English Poets_, v. 21.

[443] _Preface_, reprinted in _The English Poets_, v. 19.

[444] _Dryden_, in _Lives_, p. 226.

[445] _Op. cit._

[446] _Preface_, reprinted in _The British Poets_, Chiswick, 1822, v. 90.

[447] _Prefatory Dedication_, in _The Works of Virgil in English Verse_, London, 1763.

[448] _Preface_ to _Ariosto_, reprinted in _The English Poets_, v. 21.

[449] Pp. 53-4.

[450] _Essays_, Oxford Edition, p. 258.

[451] _Mr. Dennis's Remarks upon Pope's Homer_, London, 1717, p. 9.

[452] In _Down Hall, a Ballad_.

[453] Preface to _The Iliad of Homer_, translated by James Macpherson, London, 1773.

[454] Preface to first edition, taken from _The Iliad of Homer, translated by the late William Cowper_, London, 1802.

[455] Preface to first edition, taken from _The Iliad of Homer, translated by the late William Cowper_, London, 1802.

[456] _Preface prepared by Mr. Cowper for a Second Edition_, in edition of 1802.

[457] _Letters_, ed. Wright, London, 1904, v. 3, p. 233.

[458] _History of English Literature_, p. 384.

[459] Preface to _The Odyssey of Homer done into English Prose_.

[460] Lecture, III, in _Essays_, p. 311.

[461] _Preface to Sylvae_, in _Essays_, v. 1, p. 252.

INDEX

INDEX

Adlington, William, 89, 94.

Aelfric, 4-5, 15, 55, 56, 58.

Alfred, 3-4, 15, 17.

_Alexander_, 10, 34.

Amyot, Jacques, xii, 106.

_Andreas_, 6, 7.

Andrew of Wyntoun, 35-6, 39, 116.

Arnold, Matthew, xi, 172, 177.

_Arthur_, 45.

Ascham, Roger, 109, 114.

Augustine, St., 50, 55.

_Authorized Version of 1611_, 51, 52, 54, 60, 61, 66, 68.

Bacon, Francis, 75.

Barbour, John, 36-7.

Barclay, Alexander, 100-1.

_Bay Psalm Book_, 77.

Bentley, Richard, 172.

Berners, Lord, 101, 105.

_Bevis of Hamtoun_, 23, 24.

_Birth of Jesus_, 43.

_Bishops' Bible_, 58, 59, 67.

_Blood of Hayles_, 40.

Bokenam, Osbern, 8, 16, 40, 43-4, 46.

_Book of the Knight of La Tour Landry_, 18.

B. R., 127-8.

Bradshaw, Henry, 8.

Brady, N., 166-7.

Brende, John, 88-9, 94, 129.

Brinsley, John, 140.

Brome, Henry, 136, 144.

Bryan, Sir Francis, 101, 105.

Bullokar, John, 95.

Bullokar, William, 109-10.

Caedmon, 6.

_Canticum de Creatione_, 15, 20.

Capgrave, John, 14, 19, 20-1, 22, 40, 45.

Carew, Richard, 128.

Cartwright, William, 155.

Castalio, 51, 61, 70.

_Castle of Love_, Grosseteste's, 9, 13.

Caxton, William, 9, 12, 31, 44, 96, 115.

_Blanchardyn and Eglantine_, 38.

_Charles the Great_, 38, 46.

_Eneydos_, 35, 38, 39.

_Fayttes of Arms_, 12.

_Godfrey of Bullogne_, 33.

_Mirror of the World_, 12.

_Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_, 38.

Cecil, Sir William, 119, 125.

Chaloner, Sir Thomas, 128.

Chapman, George, 90, 92, 93, 130-1, 145, 146, 147, 150, 161.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 9, 10, 30.

_Franklin's Tale_, 30.

_Knight's Tale_, 30.

_Legend of Good Women_, 8.

_Life of St. Cecilia_, 8.

_Man of Law's Tale_, 27, 28.

_Romance of the Rose_, 8.

_Sir Thopas_, 24.

_Troilus and Criseyde_, 6, 8, 30-1.

Cheke, Sir John, 59, 63, 108, 119, 125-6, 128.

_Child of Bristow_, 39-40.

Chrétien de Troyes, 30.

Cooke, Thomas, 138-9.

Coverdale, Miles, 50-1, 52, 59, 60, 64-5, 74.

Cowley, Abraham, 137, 147, 149-50, 151, 152, 153, 154, 156, 165.

Cowper, William, 173, 174 ff.

Creech, Thomas, 151-2, 155-6, 158-9, 160, 166, 169.

Cromwell, Thomas, 51.

_Cursor Mundi_, 10.

Cynewulf, 6.

Dacier, Mme., 168.

Danett, Thomas, 90.

Daniel, Samuel, 87.

Davies of Hereford, John, 142.

Denham, Sir John, 137, 139, 144, 147, 150-1, 154, 156, 157.

Dennis, John, 173.

Dolet, Étienne, 99.

Douglas, Gavin, 107-8.

Drant, Thomas, 111 ff.

Dryden, John, 136-7, 141, 143, 145, 148, 151, 153-4, 154-5, 157-8, 159, 160-1, 162, 163, 166, 169, 177-8.

_Earl of Toulouse_, 23, 27.

Eden, Richard, 85, 91, 96.

_Elene_, 6.

Ely, Bishop of, 65.

Elyot, Sir Thomas, 11, 95, 118, 119-20.

_Emare_, 21.

Fairfax, Edward, 144-5.

_Falls of Princes_, Boccaccio's, 7, 37.

Fanshaw, Sir Richard, 139, 147, 169.

Fawkes, Francis, 164, 166, 169.

Fleming, Abraham, 109, 114.

Florio, John, 84, 87, 97.

_Floris and Blancheflor_, 45.

Fortescue, Thomas, 87, 103.

Foxe, John, 54, 67, 68, 94-5.

Francis, Philip, 168.

Fraunce, Abraham, 77.

Fulke, William, 54, 60, 65, 70 ff.

Garth, Sir Samuel, 163.

_Geneva Bible_, 53, 60, 61.

_Geneva New Testament_, 59, 61.

_Gesta Romanorum_, 28.

_Golagros and Gawain_, 21.

_Golden Legend_, 41.

Golding, Arthur, 75-6, 82, 91, 97-8, 113, 117-8, 129-30.

Googe, Barnaby, 77.

Gould, Robert, 144.

Grainger, James, 163-4, 167.

Greenway, Richard, 93.

Grimald, Nicholas, 85, 89, 96, 121-3.

Grindal, Archbishop, 68.

Guevara, 106.

Guido delle Colonne, 34.

Hake, Edward, 113-4.

_Handlyng Synne_, 42.

Harrington, Sir John, 85-6, 95, 100.

Harvey, Gabriel, 114, 129.

Hellowes, Edward, 82, 91, 105-6.

Heywood, Jasper, 111, 116.

Hobbes, Thomas, 140-1.

Hoby, Sir Thomas, 82, 89, 90, 119, 128.

Holiday, Barten, 136, 155, 160.

_Holy Grail_, 31.

Holland, Philemon, 86, 91-2, 98, 130, 135.

Hoole, John, 139, 167, 170.

Howard, Sir Robert, 154.

Hudson, Thomas, 142.

Hue de Rotelande, 21.

Hyrde, Richard, 81.

_Incestuous Daughter_, 13.

_Ipomadon_, 21.

James VI of Scotland, 75, 142.

Jerome, St., 5, 15, 55-6, 76.

Johnson, Samuel, 137, 140, 148, note, 163, 165, 166, 169.

Jonson, Ben, 136, 148, 149, 161.

Joye, George, 50.

_King Alexander_, 34.

_King Horn_, 26.

Knolles, Richard, 129.

Lang, Andrew, 176, 177.

_Launfal_, 7.

Laurent de Premierfait, 7.

Layamon, 34.

_Le Bone Florence of Rome_, 27, 28.

_Life of St. Augustine_, 41-2.

L'Isle, William, 63, note.

Lonelich, Harry, 31.

Love, Nicholas, 41, 43, 45.

Lydgate, John, 7, 8, 16, 31, 37-8, 44, 115.

Macpherson, James, 173-4.

Malory, Sir Thomas, 26.

Mancinus, 108.

Marot, Clement, 75.

Martin, Gregory, 65, 70-1.

May, Thomas, 148, 149.

Melmoth, William, 171, 172.

_Menechmi_, trans. of, 128.

_Metellus his Dialogues_, 152-3.

Mickle, William Julius, 139, 164-5, 168-9.

Milton, John, 75.

Mirk, John, 10.

More, Sir Thomas, 52, 53, 63, 67, 69, 118, 119.

Morley, Lord, 84-5, 89.

_Morte Arthur_, 33.

Mulgrave, Earl of, 154.

Munday, Anthony, 102, 103.

Nash, Thomas, 81, 117.

Neville, Alexander, 111.

Nicholls, Thomas, 81, 119.

North, Sir Thomas, 105, 106.

_Northern Passion_, 45.

Norton, Thomas, 74, 83-4, 118, 123-5.

_Octavian_, 27, 28, 29.

Orm, 17.

Otway, Thomas, 156.

Painter, William, 102, 103.

Paris, William, 11.

Parker, Archbishop, 54-5, 74.

_Partonope of Blois_, 24, 32-3.

Peele, George, 95.

Peterson, Robert, 128.

Pettie, George, 93, 97.

Phaer, Thomas, 93, 98, 110-1, 116, 144, 153.

_Polychronicon_, 16.

Pope, Alexander, 137, 165, 166, 170 ff.

Preston, W., 169.

Prior, Matthew, 173.

Purvey, John, 56, 57-8, 59, 66-7.

Puttenham, (?) Richard, 96, 116, 140, 144, 153.

_Rauf Coilyear_, 21.

_Rhemish Testament_, 59, 61, 62, 68, 70.

_Richard Coeur de Lion_, 9-10.

Ridley, Robert, 67.

Rivers, Earl, 10-1.

_Roberd of Cisyle_, 22-3.

Robert of Brunne, 22, 34-5, 42.

Rolle, Richard, 56, 58-9.

_Romance of Partenay_, 18, 24, 29, 31-2.

Roscommon, Earl of, 12, 143, 153, 156, 157, 158, 159, 161, 177.

Rowe, Nicholas, 137.

Sandys, George, 135, 148, 149.

_Secreta Secretorum_, 15-16.

_Sege of Melayne_, 24.

Seneca's Tragedies, trans. of, 109, 111, 113.

Sidney, Sir Philip, 75.

_Sir Eglamour of Artois_, 23, 27.

_Sir Percival of Galles_, 26.

Southern, John, 96.

Sprat, Thomas, 146.

_St. Etheldred of Ely_, 10, 22.

_St. Katherine of Alexandria_, 13.

_St. Paula_, 41.

Stanyhurst, Richard, 74, 77, 114, 116, 144.

Studley, John, 111.

Surrey, Earl of, 75.

Sylvester, Joshua, 142.

Taverner, Richard, 63, 88.

Thomas de Cabham, 22.

Tofte, Robert, 104.

_Torrent of Portyngale_, 24, 27.

Trapp, Joseph, 165, 167, 168.

Trevisa, John de, 16-17, 18.

Turbervile, George, 102, 115-6.

Twyne, Thomas, 113.

Tyndale, William, 49, 50, 58, 59, 62, 67, 84, 119.

Tytler, Alexander, x, 137, 148, note, 156.

Udall, Nicholas, 81-2, 87-8, 94, 97, 118, 120-1.

Vicars, John, 139-40, 143-4, 146-7, 150.

W. L., Gent., 143, 146, 150.

Waller, Edmund, 144, 145.

Warde, William, 88.

_Wars of Alexander_, 23, 25.

Warton, Joseph, 167, 169-70.

Webbe, William, 93.

Whetstone, George, 102.

Willes, Richard, 96-7.

_William of Palerne_, 30.

Wilson, Thomas, 84, 92-3, 119, 125 ff.

Winchester, Bishop of, 67-8.

Wither, George, 75, 76, 77, 78.

Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 75.

Young, Bartholomew, 104.

_Ypotis_, 43.

_Ywain and Gawin_, 21, 23, 29, 30.

+------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Notes: | | | | Page 14: Double quotes inside double quotes amended to | | single quotes. | | Page 26: Beween amended to between. | | Page 43: Saint's legends _sic_. | | Page 56: Insistance amended to insistence. | | Page 82: Double quotes at the end of the Golding quote | | removed. | | Page 87: Double quotes at the end of the Daniel quote | | removed. | | Page 97: Comma added after _amusing_. | | Page 109: Esop _sic_. | | Page 142: Facund _sic_. | | Page 144: Closing quotes added to the Denham quote. | | Page 184: Bartholemew corrected to Bartholomew. | | | | Note 41: Comma at the end of the footnote removed. The | | comma might indicate that additional information is | | missing from the footnote. | | Note 329: Acccording _sic_. | | | | The variant spellings of Bulloign, Bulloigne and Bullogne | | have been retained. | | | | References in the notes to Ovid's _Metamormorphosis_ | | are as per the original. | | | +------------------------------------------------------------+

End of Project Gutenberg's Early Theories of Translation, by Flora Ross Amos