Wordsworth's Soundings in the Aeneid. Issue 1 (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Falconer, Rachel
• Is Part Of: Romanticism. Volume 26:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 23
• Page End: 37
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: Wordsworth -- Virgil (Vergil) -- Aeneid -- Latin translation -- classical reception -- Romantic poetry -- late style; Romanticism -- England -- History -- Periodicals; Romanticism -- Periodicals; English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 820.9145
• DOI: 10.3366/rom.2020.0445
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1354-991X

Abstract

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.