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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2014 18:50:52 GMT -5
There are many poets and/or translators among our members, I know - so, I would like to ask them, how important is the precise placing of words? Vitally, maintains Mr. Frederic Raphael writing in the Times Literary Supplement. "His obsessive revisions" [rather like Bach's] "prove that the precise placing of words and phrases is a key part of Cavafy's art. To put the subject first or last grants it a privileged position which a translator should strive to honour. The poet's punchlines and last words deserve to be delivered with their full, prescribed weight."
A key part of all poets' art, surely. Although there was once a modernistic "poet" on a now defunct forum who declined to use words, even.
I would add that "privileged position", "strive to honour" and "punchline" (whether one word or two) are hideous trans-Atlanticisms. Tut, tut, tut.
The rules of Grammar are no longer imparted in the schools of England; one of the immense hidden crimes of the past hundred years.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2014 10:19:07 GMT -5
Poetry is often very difficult to translate, Sydney. I am neither a poet nor a translator, so I am not really qualified to comment, but I would argue that the most successful translations of poetry are not necessarily literal at all. Out of interest, Sydney, were you taught the rules of Grammar at school?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2014 5:15:22 GMT -5
. . . Out of interest, Sydney, were you taught the rules of Grammar at school? Yes, I was fortunate in the infectious enthusiasm of my teacher, Mr. Banks - "Dogger" as he was universally known. It is odd is it not that such a reference was familiar in the South Pacific. Here his image may be seen third from the left in the top row of the photo-graph: Mr. Banks and the other staffActually he taught me many of the finer points while he was supervising Saturday detentions. He did not hesitate to venture far beyond the syllabus. I wonder whether Saturday detentions are still held in the so much less manly Britain of to-day, or have they come to be regarded as a cruel and unusual form of punishment? And out of interest, kleines c, were you too taught the rules of Grammar? How did your school report run? |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2014 5:55:30 GMT -5
I was never given a Saturday detention, Sydney, although I was, on occasion, forced to play sport on Saturdays. I did indeed have an English teacher, of the old school, who taught us English Grammar. I also studied Latin at school, and several more modern foreign languages, where the rules of Grammar had to be taught. As for my school report, well, curiously, I struggled to begin with, but in the end, surpassed myself in all subjects. I went to a musical school, but always considered music to be one of my weaker subjects. Did you ever come across Barry Humphries at school, Sydney?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2014 7:04:20 GMT -5
He was before my time; but my sister says she used to "play with" his.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2014 10:52:17 GMT -5
I have always thought that you are playing with your alter-ego online, Sydney, a bit like some of Barry Humphries's comic creations, although I would guess that you are really the polar opposite of Sir Les Patterson. Wikipedia - Barry Humphries |
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