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Cao Lynh Posted 21 years ago
Thank You, Mr Micawber, and May I ask you some more questions?
Hello Mr Micawber,
Thank you so much for sparing your time to reply to all of my questions. And now would you please help me to understand the passages as follows: (in William Worsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads):
Passage 1
"So that it will be the wish of the Poet to bring his feelings near to those of the persons whose feelings he describes, nay, for short spaces of time perhaps, to let himself slip into an entire delusion, and even confound and identify his own feelings with theirs; modifying only the language which is thus suggested to him, by a consideration that he describes for a particular purpose, that of giving pleasure. Here, then, he will apply the principle on which I have so much insisted, namely, that of selection; on this he will depend for removing what would otherwise be painful or disgusting in the passion; he will feel that there is no necessity to trick out or to elevate nature: and, the more industriously he applies this principle, the deeper will be his faith that no words, which his fancy or imagination can suggest, will be to be compared with those which are the emanations of reality and truth."
1. For what will the Poet depend for removing what would otherwise be painful or disgusting in the passion on the principle of selection?
2. Why the more industriously does he apply this principle, the deepper will be his faith that no words, which his fancy or imagination can suggest, will be to be compared with those which are the emanation of reality and truth?
Passage 2
"But it may be said by those who do not object to the general spirit of these remarks, that, as it is impossible for the Poet to produce upon all occasions language as exquisitely fitted for the passion as that which the real passion itself suggests, it is proper that he should consider himself as in the situation of a translator, who deems himself justified when he substitutes excellences of another kind for those which are unattainable by him; and endeavours occasionally to surpass his original, in order to make some amends for the general inferiority to which he feels that he must submit. But this would be to encourage idleness and unmanly despair. Further, it is the language of men who speak of what they do not understand; who talk of Poetry as of a matter of amusement and idle pleasure; who will converse with us as gravely about a taste for Poetry, as they express it, as if it were a thing as indifferent as a taste for Rope-dancing, or Frontiniac or Sherry. Aristotle, I have been told, hath said, that Poetry is the most philosophic of all writing: it is so: its object is truth, not individual and local, but general, and operative; not standing upon external testimony, but carried alive into the heart by passion; truth which is its own testimony, which gives strength and divinity to the tribunal to which it appeals, and receives them from the same tribunal. Poetry is the image of man and nature. The obstacles which stand in the way of the fidelity of the Biographer and Historian, and of their consequent utility, are incalculably greater than those which are to be encountered by the Poet, who has an adequate notion of the dignity of his art. The Poet writes under one restriction only, namely, that of the necessity of giving immediate pleasure to a human Being possessed of that information which may be expected from him, not as a lawyer, a physician, a mariner, an astronomer or a natural philosopher, but as a Man. Except this one restriction, there is no object standing between the Poet and the image of things; between this, and the Biographer and Historian there are a thousand."
1. I cannot understand exactly the meaning of the sentence " (The translator?) endeavours occasionally to surpass his original, in order to make some amends for the general inferiority to which he feels that he must submit." Could you please explain it for me?
2. Why would this could be to encourage idleness and unmanly despair?
3. What (or Who) are Frontiniac and Shelly?
4. In the last sentence of the passage, what does the author mean with "a thousand"?
Looking forward to your reply.
With respects,
Cao Lynh
Thank you so much for sparing your time to reply to all of my questions. And now would you please help me to understand the passages as follows: (in William Worsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads):
Passage 1
"So that it will be the wish of the Poet to bring his feelings near to those of the persons whose feelings he describes, nay, for short spaces of time perhaps, to let himself slip into an entire delusion, and even confound and identify his own feelings with theirs; modifying only the language which is thus suggested to him, by a consideration that he describes for a particular purpose, that of giving pleasure. Here, then, he will apply the principle on which I have so much insisted, namely, that of selection; on this he will depend for removing what would otherwise be painful or disgusting in the passion; he will feel that there is no necessity to trick out or to elevate nature: and, the more industriously he applies this principle, the deeper will be his faith that no words, which his fancy or imagination can suggest, will be to be compared with those which are the emanations of reality and truth."
1. For what will the Poet depend for removing what would otherwise be painful or disgusting in the passion on the principle of selection?
2. Why the more industriously does he apply this principle, the deepper will be his faith that no words, which his fancy or imagination can suggest, will be to be compared with those which are the emanation of reality and truth?
Passage 2
"But it may be said by those who do not object to the general spirit of these remarks, that, as it is impossible for the Poet to produce upon all occasions language as exquisitely fitted for the passion as that which the real passion itself suggests, it is proper that he should consider himself as in the situation of a translator, who deems himself justified when he substitutes excellences of another kind for those which are unattainable by him; and endeavours occasionally to surpass his original, in order to make some amends for the general inferiority to which he feels that he must submit. But this would be to encourage idleness and unmanly despair. Further, it is the language of men who speak of what they do not understand; who talk of Poetry as of a matter of amusement and idle pleasure; who will converse with us as gravely about a taste for Poetry, as they express it, as if it were a thing as indifferent as a taste for Rope-dancing, or Frontiniac or Sherry. Aristotle, I have been told, hath said, that Poetry is the most philosophic of all writing: it is so: its object is truth, not individual and local, but general, and operative; not standing upon external testimony, but carried alive into the heart by passion; truth which is its own testimony, which gives strength and divinity to the tribunal to which it appeals, and receives them from the same tribunal. Poetry is the image of man and nature. The obstacles which stand in the way of the fidelity of the Biographer and Historian, and of their consequent utility, are incalculably greater than those which are to be encountered by the Poet, who has an adequate notion of the dignity of his art. The Poet writes under one restriction only, namely, that of the necessity of giving immediate pleasure to a human Being possessed of that information which may be expected from him, not as a lawyer, a physician, a mariner, an astronomer or a natural philosopher, but as a Man. Except this one restriction, there is no object standing between the Poet and the image of things; between this, and the Biographer and Historian there are a thousand."
1. I cannot understand exactly the meaning of the sentence " (The translator?) endeavours occasionally to surpass his original, in order to make some amends for the general inferiority to which he feels that he must submit." Could you please explain it for me?
2. Why would this could be to encourage idleness and unmanly despair?
3. What (or Who) are Frontiniac and Shelly?
4. In the last sentence of the passage, what does the author mean with "a thousand"?
Looking forward to your reply.
With respects,
Cao Lynh
Top answer
1-1-- He will depend on selection, the poet's talent of selecting the appropriate feelings to describe. 1-2-- The more carefully he selects, the less likely he will be inputting extraneous emotions, the more likely the mots justes. 2-1-- The translator sometimes tries to improve the original text to compensate for the other times s/he is not able to do it justice.
- 1-1-- He will depend on selection, the poet's talent of selecting the appropriate feelings to describe.
- 1-2-- The more carefully he selects, the less likely he will be inputting extraneous emotions, the more likely the mots justes.
- 2-1-- The translator sometimes tries to improve the original text to compensate for the other times s/he is not able to do it justice.
- 2-2-- If the poet doesn't feel he can do the selection adequately, but falls back on using his own less appropriate words, he will despair, an unmanly trait.
- 2-3-- Frontiniac (Frontignac) and Sherry are French and Spanish wines, respectively.
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1 Answers
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1-1-- He will depend on selection, the poet's talent of selecting the appropriate feelings to describe.
1-2-- The more carefully he selects, the less likely he will be inputting extraneous emotions, the more likely the mots justes.
2-1-- The translator sometimes tries to improve the original text to compensate for the other times s/he is not able to do it justice.
2-2-- I
1-2-- The more carefully he selects, the less likely he will be inputting extraneous emotions, the more likely the mots justes.
2-1-- The translator sometimes tries to improve the original text to compensate for the other times s/he is not able to do it justice.
2-2-- I
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