sounds that almost seem to embody it on the impalpable air, he has given us the monotonous melody of the English heroic couplet, every line tilting upon the eternal cesura, and keeping its equipoise by the weight of the balancing epithets. How could such a man translate Homer? How did he translate Homer? His innumerable infidelities have been admirably exposed in "Wood's Essay on the original genius of Homer;" but a few lines, taken at random, will illustrate our general remarks. Homer's Iliad says, Οὐ χρὴ παννύχιον εύδειν βουληφόρον ἄνδρα, Ω λαοί τ' ἐπιτετράφαται καὶ τόσσα μέμηλεν. 'It is not fitting that a council-holding man sleep all the night, To whom people are committed and so many cares belong.' Pope's Iliad says, "Ill suits a chief who mighty nations guides, Every reader will join Mr. Bentley in saying, "Very pretty poetry, Mr. Pope, but not Homer." We have selected this instance to illustrate the old English principle of translation, because Pope's Homer, so called, holds a fixed place in the literature of our language, and is universally known. The great body of English translations from the ancient classics, including even Dryden's celebrated version of Virgil, falls under the same condemnation. The true and only principle of translation—we do not speak now of paraphrases-is to reproduce the work of the author in our language, precisely as he wrote it in his. This is the problem which the conscientious translator has to solve. The very form in which the author chose to mould his creation is nearly as essential as the substance, and cannot be severed from it without material injury, perhaps even the entire destruction of the work, when viewed as a work of art. This remark, of course, must be considered as applying to poetical works; scientific treatises, or writings dealing only with facts and reasonings, cannot be said to depend on form for their effect. But the productions of the imagination, in poetry, as well as in the plastic arts, require the author to decide upon his form, 1845.] Qualifications of a Translator. 229 after a careful and profound study of the principles which lie at the foundation of æsthetic science: and the author having selected the form of his work upon well considered grounds, it is doing him a great literary wrong and placing him in a very false position, to thrust upon it another form in another language. The metrical structure of a poem is one of its essentials; if a translation fails to produce that, it is no translation, though it may be a "very pretty poem.' The English translations from the German are the best of the whole body of English versions; and the reason is, that they are the truest. The Germans have in their language a vast body of masterly versions from all the foreign languages which contain works of sufficient value to repay the toil and study needful to transfer them. The remarkable difference between the English and the German translations in favor of the latter, is to be explained by the greater conscientiousness of the German scholars who have executed them, and by the fact that the principles of taste had been examined and settled by profound and extensive learning, drawn from a comprehensive study of the literature of all civilized nations, before the task of embodying in the mother tongue the literary treasures of the world was undertaken; and when it was undertaken, it was done by the ablest, the most accomplished, and the most conscientious minds. It cannot be said, that the English language is inadequate to the faithful representation of foreign literature. In some respects it possesses advantages over every other modern tongue. The variety of the sources from which it is drawn, and the numerous classes of words that are nearly but not quite synonymous, enable it to reproduce with remarkable accuracy the varied shades of thought in foreign authors. This is not mere theory; it has been proved by repeated experiments. Mr. Longfellow's translations, from nearly all the languages of modern Europe, have the freedom and flow of original works, and are at the same time perfectly faithful to the originals, following them line for line, metre for metre, epithet for epithet. One instance like this settles the question. It is very true that to translate a foreign poet upon this principle makes high demands upon the translator. He must be thoroughly familiar with the language of his original, and so complete a master of 20 4TH S. VOL. IV. NO. II. VOL. XXXIX. his mother tongue, that he can at will, to use the phrase of Milton, compel her "to search her coffers round and round." He must possess an intellectual power and an imagination, if not equal, at least akin to the power and the imagination of his author. He must labor upon his task with profound sympathy, and something of the forming energy which shaped the fused materials in the fervent mind of his original. His duty is, not to place the author in his own condition and age, but just the reverse, to transfer himself to the age and condition of the author; to surround himself, in imagination, with the influences which formed his mind, controlled his taste and established his principles; to lose, as it were, his own personal identity in the personality of his author. If translations have not, as a general rule, been thus executed in English, the fact does not prove the impossibility of the thing, or the inadequacy of the language, but the unfaithfulness or inability of the translator. We consider this view of translation established, both in theory and fact, upon impregnable grounds. The more recent works in this department have been gradually approaching this standard; and English translators have endeavored, within the last few years, to imitate the learned fidelity of the Germans. At this moment, there are in progress two independent translations of the Iliad in English hexameters. This is a remarkable fact, in confirmation of the opinions we have expressed; the more remarkable on account of the grave and difficult questions growing out of our imperfect knowledge of the real effects of the ancient classical rhythms. This topic has been suggested by an examination of Mr. Longfellow's recently published work, "the Poets and Poetry of Europe." The plan of this volume is unique in English literature, presenting, as it does, a series of translations from the Anglo-Saxon, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages, ten in all,- preceded by Introductions sketching, with remarkable elegance of style and condensation of learning, the history of the several languages, and of the literature therein contained; the poets, from whose works the translations are taken, being arranged in chronological order, and each accompanied by a biographical notice, 1845.] Anglo-Saxon Poetry. 231 embracing a short statement of the leading events of his life, and for the most part, a few sentences of general criticism upon his writings, together with references to the principal editions and translations. Mr. Longfellow's historical introductions are executed with great ability, and abound in graphic passages which present the poetical spirit and character of a whole age in a few magnificent sentences. A vast variety of information is most agreeably conveyed within a very narrow space, and at the conclusion of each introduction copious references are given to authors in various languages, who have treated the subject at greater length, and they thus supply the place of a manual or guide to the student of modern literature, the value of which can hardly be overstated. The translations, being selected from the whole range of English literature, from old Geoffrey Chaucer's version of the Romaunt of the Rose, and the pitiless lady of Alain Chartier, down to the countless collections and magazines of the present day, possess every degree of merit, and are executed upon every variety of plan; the object of the editor being, not to make a collection of absolutely good translations, but to show what has been done in this field of intellectual labor by English writers, and at the same time to present to the reader as fair a view of the various literatures embraced within his scheme, as the materials thus accessible rendered practicable. Mr. Longfellow's rare endowments, his attainments in every department of modern literature, his whole life, filled with literary labor and poetical composition, his travels and studies in the South and the North of Europe at different periods, the elegance of his pure style, and his taste disciplined to the ready perception and appreciation of beauty, qualify him admirably to plan and edit a work of so comprehensive a character as the volume we are considering; and he has accordingly made it a sort of illustrated history of the literature of modern Europe. The study of the Anglo-Saxon language is now understood to have important bearings both upon German and English philology, and has accordingly made great progress in both countries within the last few years. But it is peculiarly important to English and American scholarship, because a knowledge of that ancient dialect can alone. afford the means of fully illustrating the pithiest element in our composite language; and will help, with other means, to purify our literature from the multiplying barbarisms with which an ignorant and wordy public speaking and newspaper writing daily overload our common speech, and from the cockney affectations, the false humor, the vulgar wit, and the distorted phraseology of popular English authors, which have been taken up or slavishly imitated by the American literary apes. Several of the most important monuments of AngloSaxon poetry have been edited in the original and in faithful translations, by the English scholars of the present day; and among the rest, an epic poem, of an unknown age, but dating somewhere between the seventh and tenth centuries, entitled Beowulf. The extracts which Mr. Longfellow has furnished from this rusty and obscure old poem, will enable the reader to form a very good idea of the bold, abrupt, and warlike style of our gruff ancestors. The language and poetry of Iceland - that frozen region. where the light of genius burned when thick darkness brooded over the favored regions of the South, is of interest and importance. "The long sunless winter," says Mr. Longfellow," was cheered by the Saga and the Song, and we are indebted to Iceland for the most remarkable remains of Norse Poetry." The Danish language has close analogies with the English, and still more with the Scotch, and the picturesque ballads of its elder literature strikingly illustrate the spirit of the chivalrous age in Northern Europe. Like the corresponding songs of England and Scotland, their subjects are partly historical and partly fabulous; and Mr. Jamieson has rendered many of them into Lowland Scotch with such singular spirit and fidelity, that they may be reckoned among the most curious felicities of literature. Mr. Longfellow has wisely selected a considerable number of them from that gentleman's contributions to the "Illustrations of Northern Antiquities." Besides her ballad-singers, Denmark has produced many poets of considerable merit; but the name of Oehlenschläger has stood foremost of them all, both in the estimation of his countrymen and in the regards of foreigners. Though he is indebted for his fame chiefly to the superiority of his genius, he has gained a |