Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Pegasus Impounded
I have just made available on my web site W.G. Hale's amusing criticism of Ezra Pound's adaptations of some Latin poems by Sextus Propertius. Even if you don't know any Latin, it's fun to read Hale's devastating attack on Pound. Here's a sample:
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In II of the translations, Propertius makes Calliope bid him to refrain from writing epic poetry, and to sing only of love. Mr. Pound mistakes the verb canes, "thou shalt sing," for the noun canes (in the nominative plural masculine) and translates by "dogs." Looking around then for something to tack this to, he fixes upon nocturnae (genitive singular feminine) and gives us "night dogs"! I allow myself an exclamation point.
