George MacDonald

Rampolli George MacDonald

I think every man who can should help his people to inherit the earth by bringing into his own of the wealth of other tongues. In the flower-pots of translation I offer these few exotics, with no little labour taught to exist, I hope to breathe, in English air. Such labour is to me no less serious than delightful, for to do a man's work, in the process of carrying over, more injury than must be, is a serious wrong. I have endeavoured, first of all, to give the spirit of the poetry. Next, I have sought to retain each individual meaning that goes to form the matter of a poem. Third, I have aimed at preserving the peculiar mode, the aroma of the poet's style, so far as I could do it without offence to the translating English. Fourth, both rhythm and rime being essential elements of every poem in which they are used, I have sought to respect them rigorously.