FAUS T. A Tragedy. BY GOETHE. TRANSLATED BY LEWIS FILMORE. LONDON: WILLIAM SMITH, 113, FLEET STREET. MDCCCXLVII. 3874.4.15 PREFACE. THOUGH the controversy as to the comparative merits of prose and metrical translations of a poem in a foreign language has not yet been decided, the metrical form was chosen in the present instance, as the best adapted to give an idea of a drama written, with the exception of a few portions, in rhyme, and containing only one scene in prose. Exact readers who wish to have the ipsissima verba of the author, or rather their English equivalents, will find a prose translation the best suited to their wants; and with the very words, the exact sense will generally (but not always) be conveyed to them. Nor does a fine poetic thought lose so much as may be imagined by being expressed in prose; but readers who wish to have the poet's form and manner, in addition to his sense and matter, will be better pleased with a metrical translation, though to attain it they may have to submit to some sacrifice of literal exactness. In the present version it has been earnestly endeavoured to make that sacrifice as small as possible; the author's meaning has been followed as closely as the translator's knowledge |
