Author: Robert Thomas Kerlin

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2014-06-16

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9781500217808

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THIS is a unique and thorough going investigation into the influence of Theocritus upon English literature. The author has treated all notices, imitations, comments, translations or paraphrases of Theocritus, from the earliest, in Skelton (1523), down to 1906. It is much more than a mere list that he gives us; the running comment and evaluation makes it very interesting reading. He deals with such topics as pastoral poetry. Theocritus's place in the world's literature, pastoral drama, piscatory and town eclogues, down through the recognized periods of literature in England, and ends with a chapter on Theocritus in America. Appendices, bibliography, and index complete the volume. Interesting is a quotation (p. 82) from a letter of Anna Seward to Richard Polwhele, Dec. 27, 1785; she says she should as soon "expect a roast phenix for dinner, as that fifty people in this nation would willingly purchase a new translation of writers so little known as either Horace or Theocritus". Until recently, Theocritus has never been widely known, or often translated; Dr. Kerlin gives this summary of translations by centuries (p. 167): "Sixteenth: 1 author, 6 versions [= Idyls], Seventeenth: 6 authors, 15 versions. Eighteenth: 12 authors, 14 versions. Nineteenth: 19 authors, 49 versions. The numerous translations of passages into sonnets, pictures, etc., occur in the last century". Idyl 19 (Love's Theft of Honey) has been translated oftener than any other, eleven times (yet it probably is not by Theocritus himself); next comes Idyl 11 (The Cyclops in Love), eight times; then Idyl 2 (Simaetha's Incantations), six versions.' Idyls 15 (The Syracusan Women) and 21 (The Fishermen—non-Theocritean) have five versions each—of course outside of translations of the whole of Theocritus. Noteworthy are the results from the Victorian era, considering the scant influence Theocritus exercised earlier: "The frequency with which the name of Theocritus occurs in verse during the period, the large number of poems addressed to him, the two prose and the two verse translations, besides numerous partial versions, and the traces of his mode of expression in much of the best poetry of the time, together with the fresh and appreciative essays on his genius, testify that Theocritus has come at last to be a really considerable force in English literature" (p. 139). Similarly, for America (p. 165): "The younger American singers, whatever their merits, have paid more tributes to Theocritus than to any other ancient poet.... There is in much of their verse the lilt of true song, the throb of joy, the melody of self-prompted singing... The best of these have tried to imitate his realism, and to catch his simple graces". We are grateful that the author has quoted freely from many of the recent verses dedicated to Theocritus by Englishmen and Americans alike. Wilde's Villanelle and Dobson's (1880) are given entire; also Langhorne's Theocritus! Theocritus! what pleasant dreams were thine (1846); Lang's To Theocritus in Winter (1879); Egan's Sonnet (1880); Gosse's The Poplars and the Ancient Elms (1880); McCarthy's Sonnet (to Calverley, 1884); Lewissohn's In Sicily (1906). This bringing together, in this connection, of widely scattered verse, is delightful. — Classical Weekly

Download or read book Theocritus in English Literature written by Robert Thomas Kerlin and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-06-16 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS is a unique and thorough going investigation into the influence of Theocritus upon English literature. The author has treated all notices, imitations, comments, translations or paraphrases of Theocritus, from the earliest, in Skelton (1523), down to 1906. It is much more than a mere list that he gives us; the running comment and evaluation makes it very interesting reading. He deals with such topics as pastoral poetry. Theocritus's place in the world's literature, pastoral drama, piscatory and town eclogues, down through the recognized periods of literature in England, and ends with a chapter on Theocritus in America. Appendices, bibliography, and index complete the volume. Interesting is a quotation (p. 82) from a letter of Anna Seward to Richard Polwhele, Dec. 27, 1785; she says she should as soon "expect a roast phenix for dinner, as that fifty people in this nation would willingly purchase a new translation of writers so little known as either Horace or Theocritus". Until recently, Theocritus has never been widely known, or often translated; Dr. Kerlin gives this summary of translations by centuries (p. 167): "Sixteenth: 1 author, 6 versions [= Idyls], Seventeenth: 6 authors, 15 versions. Eighteenth: 12 authors, 14 versions. Nineteenth: 19 authors, 49 versions. The numerous translations of passages into sonnets, pictures, etc., occur in the last century". Idyl 19 (Love's Theft of Honey) has been translated oftener than any other, eleven times (yet it probably is not by Theocritus himself); next comes Idyl 11 (The Cyclops in Love), eight times; then Idyl 2 (Simaetha's Incantations), six versions.' Idyls 15 (The Syracusan Women) and 21 (The Fishermen—non-Theocritean) have five versions each—of course outside of translations of the whole of Theocritus. Noteworthy are the results from the Victorian era, considering the scant influence Theocritus exercised earlier: "The frequency with which the name of Theocritus occurs in verse during the period, the large number of poems addressed to him, the two prose and the two verse translations, besides numerous partial versions, and the traces of his mode of expression in much of the best poetry of the time, together with the fresh and appreciative essays on his genius, testify that Theocritus has come at last to be a really considerable force in English literature" (p. 139). Similarly, for America (p. 165): "The younger American singers, whatever their merits, have paid more tributes to Theocritus than to any other ancient poet.... There is in much of their verse the lilt of true song, the throb of joy, the melody of self-prompted singing... The best of these have tried to imitate his realism, and to catch his simple graces". We are grateful that the author has quoted freely from many of the recent verses dedicated to Theocritus by Englishmen and Americans alike. Wilde's Villanelle and Dobson's (1880) are given entire; also Langhorne's Theocritus! Theocritus! what pleasant dreams were thine (1846); Lang's To Theocritus in Winter (1879); Egan's Sonnet (1880); Gosse's The Poplars and the Ancient Elms (1880); McCarthy's Sonnet (to Calverley, 1884); Lewissohn's In Sicily (1906). This bringing together, in this connection, of widely scattered verse, is delightful. — Classical Weekly