koralleen (koralleen) wrote,
koralleen
koralleen

SRP: The Death of King Arthur, A New Verse Translation by Simon Armitage

Don't tell me you aren't intrigued by the thought of a modern alliterative verse story! This book is set up exactly right, with the Middle English Alliterative Morte Arthure printed alongside the new text, line by line. I think the translation suffers a little from the effort of preserving the alliteration that defined Germanic poetry of the time. I'd rather preserve the flow of the narrative than get hung up on a weird word that's simply providing a voiceless velar plosive in the right place, like this:

(405) I account no king that under Crist lives; becomes No king under Christ will I fear or kowtow to
Doesn't that jar you? That's our man Arthur talking! You can just bet he's not kowtowing. I think that was the worst incident, but there were a few places where clumsy language detracted from the experience. Other than that, it's a gory tale of bravery, loyalty, deceit, and sorrow.
Subscribe

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
    Help
  • 0 comments