Friday, July 23, 2021
Killing and Mutilation
David West (1926-2013), The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1969), pp. 9-10:
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'Imaging is, in itself', according to Dryden, 'the very height and life of poetry.' This is true of the poetry of Lucretius. Yet his images are frequently not explained by commentators and not respected by translators. Even those writing expressly on his imagery have done little more than pass general judgments supported by lists of paraphrased examples. Popular though it is among writers on classical literature, paraphrase kills poetry, and in Lucretius (where so much depends upon the acuity of the detail), it mutilates the corpse.
