
The Poetical Works of Christopher Smart: Volume V. The Works of Horace, Translated Into Verse
Volume V: The Works of Horace, Translated Into Verse
Christopher Smart(Author)
Karina Williamson(Editor)
Clarendon Press
Published on 6. June 1996
Book
Hardback
512 pages
978-0-19-812772-7 (ISBN)
Description
Published here for the first time since 1767, Christopher Smart's verse translation of Horace was made in the prodigiously creative years between his release from the madhouse and his death. The translation strengthens the impression made by all Smart's later verse of a poet of remarkable lyrical virtuosity and boldness of expression.
The translation now emerges as testimony to Smart's tireless creativity and poetic energy, and as a significant contribution to the present reappraisal of Horace's influence on English literature. Smart's contemporaries, however, either ignored the project, or treated it with contempt, and it was never reprinted. This edition includes Smart's own critical preface, which is important for its declaration of the writer's principles as translator, and for its unorthodox ideas about poetic language. Karina Williamson's informative introduction discusses Smart's principles and methods in the context of eighteenth century attitudes to the translation of clasical works. Full scholarly apparatus is provided, together with a detailed and clarifying commentary which explains Smart's more obscure passages.
The translation now emerges as testimony to Smart's tireless creativity and poetic energy, and as a significant contribution to the present reappraisal of Horace's influence on English literature. Smart's contemporaries, however, either ignored the project, or treated it with contempt, and it was never reprinted. This edition includes Smart's own critical preface, which is important for its declaration of the writer's principles as translator, and for its unorthodox ideas about poetic language. Karina Williamson's informative introduction discusses Smart's principles and methods in the context of eighteenth century attitudes to the translation of clasical works. Full scholarly apparatus is provided, together with a detailed and clarifying commentary which explains Smart's more obscure passages.
Reviews / Votes
a model of lucid scholarly exposition ... It is to be hoped that Karina Williamson's excellent new edition will rekindle interest in an unjustly neglected work. * David Hopkins, University of Bristol, Translation & Literature *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
847 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-812772-7 (9780198127727)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Author
Editor
Honorary Fellow, Department of English LiteratureHonorary Fellow, Department of English Literature, University of Edinburgh