On Fri, 16 Oct 1998, Leofranc Holford-Strevens wrote:
> In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > David Wilson-Okamura <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes > >At 09:34 AM 10/16/98 -0500, Randi Eldevik wrote: > >Dryden's couplets tend to > >reduce everything that's said or done in the poem to a pithy little > >epigram; that works for some of the Eclogues (and even some of the > >Georgics), but for the Aeneid it's just wrong, wrong, wrong. > > > >But I am eager to be instructed: would someone who does like Dryden's > >translation care to say a few words on its behalf? (Simon?) > > > In general, that is fair comment, though rather a warning against > translation in general except between languages with very similar poetic > styles; but how about this. for Dido's _Dulces exuviae- speech? > > Dear Pledges of my Love, while Heav'n so pleas'd, > Receive a Soul, of Mortal Anguish eas'd. > My fatal course is finish'd; and I go > A glorious Name, among the Ghosts below. > A lofty City by my Hands is rais'd, > _Pygmalion_ punish't, and my Lord appeas'd. > What cou'd my Fortune have afforded more, > Had the false _Trojan_ never touch'd my Shore? > > Of course the Latin is ideal for the purpose, falling into end-stopped > distichs; and Dryden well catches Dido's queenly pride--so well, in > fact, that he almost forgets to make us pity her. > > Leofranc Holford-Strevens > > *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- > > Leofranc Holford-Strevens > 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone > Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? > OX2 6EJ > > > tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) > > -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. > Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You > can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > The passage cited by Mr. Holford Strevens also demonstrates the strength of Dryden's couplets: they are not merely "pithy little epigrams" but complex poetic structures with a rich, often dislocating, rhythmical variation which often makes one forget they're couplets. Paul Taylor ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
