Three Greek Plays
by
[Norton, $2.50]
Miss HAMILTON has chosen for translation the Prometheus Bound and the Agamemnon of Æschylus and the Trojan Women of Euripides. The choice was perhaps intended to appeal deliberately to a certain aspect of modern taste and opinion. The play of Euripides is, as the translator says, ‘the greatest piece of anti-war literature there is in the world.’ The Prometheus has been a sacred book for rebellious thinkers ever since Shelley. But one may doubt whether the Agamemnon is as pacifistic in tone as Miss Hamilton finds it.
The most interesting single feature of her method of translation is her treatment of metre. The dialogue is put into iambic lines of varying lengths, normally of five feet. The choruses of two of the plays are in irregular, practically free verse which is predominantly iambic and anapæstic. In the choruses of the Agamemnon she tries to keep the exact syllabic equivalent of the Greek. On the whole, her method is successful. The dialogue loses its strict metrical form and seems wayward at times: our careless ears hear prose rhythms where none were intended. But she has saved herself from any temptation to padding in order to fill out lines. Her handling of the Agamemnon choruses is remarkable.
The difficulty of obtaining an accentual equivalent of a rhythm based on quantity is notorious, and our English ears and tongues twist everything into iambics with the slightest provocation. But Miss Hamilton has succeeded with a minimum of license. Occasionally she finds it necessary to split a line to avoid two successive accented syllables. The result on such occasions is a shortbreathed quality such as ruins many of H. D.’s translations. Actually to mark the accents might be a better way out.
Of more importance to Greekless readers than metres are the qualities of literalness and style. These versions are definitely more literal than any other verse translations with which the reviewer is acquainted. At times one might differ about the interpretation of a passage or find the verse form causing queer tricks of emphasis which prose would avoid. But the important thing is that no ideas are added and the reader is justified in having confidence in the translator.
The style is plain. There is no straining for artificial dignity; the ‘eftsoons’ school of translation does not intrude. Nor has Miss Hamilton learned her verse in the school of Swinburne or any other outmoded hero. Yet, although this verse is plain, it is not prosaic. The language does not violate the emotional tension of the thought. It is not dull or flat. The imagery occasionally loses vividness, but English cannot reproduce Greek compound epithets. In any case there is here a minimum of that diffuseness that makes many translations of Greek poetry seem like the spinning of windy platitudes.
Miss Hamilton has done an excellent piece of work. One honestly hopes for more versions from her.
LAWRENCE LEIGHTON