To An Adult Reader
*
"Tales from Chaucer", by Charles Cowden Clarke, [1833],
p. xiii
The adult reader (should I be honoured with such) , who can scarcely fail to discern an abrupt stiffness in the construction of the sentences in the following Tales, will bear in mind the many complicated difficulties I have had to contend with in retaining, as much as possible, Chaucer's antique quaintness and distinctive character; in avoiding his repetitions, and yet in incorporating every nervous expression which constitutes the great charm of his graphic descriptions.
The task I proposed to myself was to render my translations literal with the original, to preserve their antique fashion, and withal to give them a sufficiently modern air to interest the young reader. I was to be at one and the same time "modernly antique," prosaically poetic, and comprehensively concise. He only will appreciate my frequent perplexities who shall attempt the same task--observing the same restrictions.
"Tales from Chaucer", by Charles Cowden Clarke, [1833],
p. xiii
The adult reader (should I be honoured with such) , who can scarcely fail to discern an abrupt stiffness in the construction of the sentences in the following Tales, will bear in mind the many complicated difficulties I have had to contend with in retaining, as much as possible, Chaucer's antique quaintness and distinctive character; in avoiding his repetitions, and yet in incorporating every nervous expression which constitutes the great charm of his graphic descriptions.
The task I proposed to myself was to render my translations literal with the original, to preserve their antique fashion, and withal to give them a sufficiently modern air to interest the young reader. I was to be at one and the same time "modernly antique," prosaically poetic, and comprehensively concise. He only will appreciate my frequent perplexities who shall attempt the same task--observing the same restrictions.
