‘Wordsworth’s Soundings in the Aeneid’

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
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Serval ID
serval:BIB_EB860A7F0484
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
‘Wordsworth’s Soundings in the Aeneid’
Journal
Romanticism
Author(s)
Falconer Rachel
ISSN
1354-991X (print)
1750-0192 (electronic)
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2020
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
26
Number
1
Pages
23-37
Language
english
Abstract
Wordsworth’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid I–III has been largely neglected by Romanticists and classical reception scholars, in part because it is considered to be an unfinished, failed artistic project. Amongst a handful of scholars, Bruce Graver has convincingly demonstrated the originality of Wordsworth’s Latin translation. This article goes further to suggest the artistic coherence of Wordsworth’s translation of Virgil. Aeneid I–III trace the arc of Aeneas’s fall and exile from Troy and discovery of a new home. In translating Aeneas’s journey, Wordsworth enacts a quest for a new poetic voice, at a time when his creative powers as an English poet were at a low ebb. His engagement with Virgil’s Latin can be compared to his encounters with Nature and the River Derwent in earlier poetry; in both cases, the poet plays host to an alienatingly other, divine maternal presence which eventually rejuvenates and confirms the poet’s voice in English.
Keywords
Wordsworth, Virgil (Vergil), Aeneid, Latin translation, Classical reception, Romantic poetry, Late style
Create date
21/01/2021 18:25
Last modification date
04/08/2022 6:38
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