lators, though
many of his songs from their shortness and delicacy are hard to express
properly. Goethe and Schiller have also been much translated and any
collection of German poetry will show a dozen poems with which one has
become familiar through the English versions.

Among the French it is difficult to specify any particular authors, as
they have not been so widely translated as the Germans. Alfred de
Musset, Theophile Gautier and Paul Verlaine are, perhaps, as well known
as any other of the more modern writers.

In making translations with a view to the artistic side the result is
apt to differ from the exercise which aims only at accuracy. For
practice one should render line for line as nearly as possible. When one
can do this it is allowable to take more liberties and reproduce the
poem, not line for line as it stands, but rather as the author might
have written it had he composed in English; to preserve the meter and
general arrangement but to sacrifice details when necessary to the
spirit of the poem. When the two qualities can be combined and a poem is
translated in such a way that the lines correspond and yet do not crowd
out the poetry the result is a masterpiece. But such things very rarely
happen and require not only hard work but a flash of inspiration and
good luck as well.

Very often a poem can be imitated from its mother tongue. A stanza or
two may be expanded into a ballade in English containing an elaboration
of the original thought. It is perfectly allowable to offer a
composition of this sort for sale provided the source is acknowledged.

XI

ABOUT READING

CHAPTER XI

ABOUT READING

To write good verse one must read good verse. The world has spun too
long for a man to succeed who depends wholly on his own ideas; he must
profit by the work of others. The more poetry and the more kinds of
poetry the verse maker reads the broader his knowledge of the subject
becomes. First it touches his vocabulary, then his rhymes and meters and
lastly his methods.

Though all good literature is helpful in this way, the book which gives
the most enjoyment is very apt to bring the most profit. But it should
not be forgotten that many authors are unpopular because of a hasty
first impression. A rainy day and a disagreeable companion will spoil
the effect of the prettiest scenery in the world, and a bad dinner and a
headache may turn a masterpiece into a lasting abomination. Any poet
whose