The Meolopoeic Fidelity Of The First Stanza Of Wickert’s Translation Of Tasso’s “Liberation Of Jerusalem”

October 7, 2010 David Hurley Books, Poetry, Translations 2

I am reading my way through Max Wickert‘s powerful modern verse translation of Tasso’s La Gerusalemme Liberata, a translation that is faithful to the original and at the same time immensely readable.

The dynamic opening stanza of the The Liberation of Jerusalem, its fidelity to the original combined with its its freedom from slavish literalism, the confidence and delight the translator displays in his own prowess all bode well for the rest of the poem:

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I especially admire the way Wickert has worked the first two lines so that the Virgilian echo “I sing of arms…” can still be heard, but the infelicitous, almost comical phrase, “holy arms,” is avoided for the much more apposite, “holy war.” The line is made taut and sinuous by the repetition of “war”. Equally admirable is the decision to shift the word “Captain” to the beginning of the second line creating a melopoeic echo of the sound pattern and rhythm the second line of the original. Thus, in the opening two lines Wickert displays a regard for both the needs of an English translation and an acute ear for the sounds of the original

Wickert’s translation seems to have been made to be read aloud. I wonder if he is planning to release a recording of the poem being read. I must admit, it is something I would like to try and do myself…

DH

2 Comments

  1. Thanks very much for the kind words. Perhaps you would also be interested in having a look at my translation of Tasso’s early lyrics: Love Poems for Lucrezia Bendidio (New York: Italica Press, 1911)

  2. Perhaps you did not know (few people nowadays do) that Tasso wrote another epic, Rinaldo, when he was still in his teens. It was very successful, with six printings published in the poet’s lifetime, and several others later on abroad, including one by Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, and an eighteenth century verse translation by Dr. Samuel Johnson’s friend, John Hoole. In the nineteenth century, J.A. Simone’s speaks of it with some respect and Bulfinch’s Mythology shamelessly borrows episodes from it, pretending they were medieval legends. By the way, it’s eponynous hero is NOT the same as the Crusader protagonist in The Liberation of Jerusalem, but the Carolingian paladin, best friend to Roland/Orlando (who also appears in Tasso’s poem.
    As it happens, I just finished my own verse translation of it and it has been accepted for 2017 publication by Italica Press.

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