Young Milton …

… A Different Milton?: On A. M. Juster’s Translation of John Milton’s “The Book of Elegies” - Los Angeles Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

“Tandem” is “at last”; “care” is “beloved friend”; “nuntia” is “news.” This is line-for-line translation, approaching word for word. Does this look easy? Maybe it isn’t too terribly difficult to render a single couplet faithfully and gracefully, but how about two or three? How about hundreds? And how about avoiding, as this translation does, any awkward enjambment? No, nothing about this achievement is easy, and A. M. Juster, who makes it seem that way, deserves great credit.