At the close of the poem also appears a brief note, reading "For a particular account of Bürger see p. 117." The brief account alluded to is called, "Some account of the Poems of G. A. Bürger, by the translator of Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris", the last clause a bracketed note by the editor of the magazine. The identity of the translator of Lenore is thus indirectly made known. The statement regarding Bürger's work gives dates of the editions of his poems, some general characteristics, and especially notes his use of English Ballads as a basis for some of his own. It closes with the remark that "a few shorter poems and two of his wholly original ballads may give some idea of his peculiarity to the English readers." To this is added, in parentheses and italics, to indicate an editorial note: "For these our readers are referred to our poetical department of this and the following months."[1]
Close student of German literature as Taylor was, he by no means made a literal translation of Bürger's poem. He was the first to give it the ballad form in English. Stanley used a six-line stanza, riming aabccb. Pye and Spencer chose an eight-line stanza made up of two independent quatrains of double rime, the line being one of four stresses. Pye's verse was trochaic catalectic, all others iambic in flow. In imitation of English ballads also, Taylor used a somewhat archaic diction and spelling, a feature which was to have its influence as we shall see. Taylor, too, caught more clearly than any other translator, except possibly Scott, the spirit of the original. Apart from this, he made one significant change in the story. He threw back the scene from the period of the Seven Years' war to the time of the crusades. Perhaps this was to make the supernatural element seem more appropriate, perhaps it was only a ballad imitation in respect to time.[2]
He also transferred the home of William and Lenora from Germany to England, as he made the names English in form. For such change of locality Taylor had the example of Bürger himself.
- ↑ In the following month (April) was printed Taylor's translation of Bürger's Des Pfarrers Tochter, called by the translator The Lass of Fair Wone. It has not been noticed, however, that the promise of a few of his shorter poems was also fulfilled in the May number by the publication of The Menagerie of the Gods and Pro Patria Mori, both "from the German of Bürger." They are reproduced, though without mention of previous publication, in the Historic Survey. None of these later translations was in archaic spelling.
- ↑ Taylor made the first couplet of the second stanza read:where the original has:He went abroade with Richard's host.
The paynim foes to quell,The change in time and place also made possible Taylor's frequently recurring line "Splash, splash across the sea," for which there is nothing in the original.Er war mit König Friedrichs Macht
Gezogen in die Pragerschlacht.
