Book contents
- Percy Shelley in Context
- Percy Shelley in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Part I Life and Death
- Part II Intellectual, Cultural, and Political Contexts
- Part III Writings
- Chapter 25 Publishing, Publishers, and Editions
- Chapter 26 Correspondence
- Chapter 27 Shelley’s Translations
- Chapter 28 The Gothic
- Chapter 29 Lyric
- Chapter 30 Drama
- Chapter 31 Epic
- Chapter 32 Shelley’s Laughter
- Part IV Afterlives
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 27 - Shelley’s Translations
from Part III - Writings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2025
- Percy Shelley in Context
- Percy Shelley in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Part I Life and Death
- Part II Intellectual, Cultural, and Political Contexts
- Part III Writings
- Chapter 25 Publishing, Publishers, and Editions
- Chapter 26 Correspondence
- Chapter 27 Shelley’s Translations
- Chapter 28 The Gothic
- Chapter 29 Lyric
- Chapter 30 Drama
- Chapter 31 Epic
- Chapter 32 Shelley’s Laughter
- Part IV Afterlives
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
Shelley famously asserted that translation is as vain as casting a violet into a crucible to understand its colour and odour. Despite this seeming dismissal of the practice, translation forms an integral component of Shelley’s vocation as a poet and thinker. Throughout his writing career, he translated from French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, and Spanish and also rendered some of his own poetry into Italian. His translation practice encompasses a wide range of genres: from Greek hymns and Latin georgics to Italian terza rima and ottava rima, to Spanish silvas and redondillas, to drama and philosophical prose. This chapter opens with a discussion of Shelley’s views on translation and the symbiotic relationship between translation and original composition in his own creative process. It then considers the connections between translation and language learning in the Shelley household before concluding with a survey of Shelley’s translations by language.
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- Percy Shelley in Context , pp. 203 - 211Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025