Nor ought a genius less than his that writ Attempt translation.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Only a poet of equal genius should attempt to translate another's work.
- In plain terms
- Translation needs a writer as talented as the original author.
- What can you take from it?
- True translation requires matching the original author's skill level.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes a good translation?
- Who qualifies to translate great work?
Another view
Many great translations come from dedicated skill rather than innate genius.
More from John Denham
Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, That few but such as cannot write, translate.
Permalink to quote #3 Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.
Permalink to quote #5 Ambition is like love, impatient Both of delays and rivals.
Permalink to quote #2
Related quotes
[He] hath shewed himselfe singular in the immortall Epitaph of his beloved Astrophell, besides many other most absolute Comike inventions.
Matthew RoydonMatthew Roydon quote #4 I hold with the old-fashioned criticism that Browning is not really a poet, that he has all the gifts but the one needful and the pearls without the string; ra…
Gerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley Hopkins quote #13 There are two classes of poets - the poets by education and practice, these we respect; and poets by nature, these we love.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson quote #23