Studia Islandica - 01.06.1957, Blaðsíða 42

40
and literary taste. The estimate of the editor of the an-
nual of the Society is also of interest. In the preface to
Voi. XIII, in which the first book of Paradise Lost ap-
pears, he writes: “We hardly believe that this masterpiece
would have fared better at the hands of any other Ice-
landic poet of the day who does not understand English
than has been the case with this excellent national poet.
For, although he has not had access to the original, but
based his work only on Dr. Schönheyder’s Danish trans-
lation, and one might, therefore, expect to find this Ice-
landic translation very mediocre, yet, when both are
compared with the original, it appears not inferior to the
Danish, and in certain parts better expresses the original,
which our translator has never seen. Some passages, how-
ever, which in the Danish version were too far removed
from the English, we considered ourselves justified in
changing; and we have also added some (passages) which
were lacking in the Danish, but were easily expressed in
Icelandic.” This is, very likely, written by Jón Jónsson
(Johnsonius, 1749—1826), who was at this time secre-
tary of the Society and a poet of some merit, who wrote
in the spirit of Eggert Ólafsson.
Although no opportunity of continued publication ap-
peared in sight, the translator resolutely continued his
work, finishing it in 1804. It thus extended over a period
of fourteen years. Unfortunately, we are not familiar with
the details concerning this large undertaking in the realm
of letters. Þorláksson’s original poems contain few re-
ferences to the translation. The most interesting and im-
portant is his poem “Hamförin”, discussed in some de-
tail in the opening chapter of this study.
In a letter to Þorláksson, dated November 24, 1814,
Rasmus C. Rask writes: “Again I have a little business
with you, namely, to ask you, if you would kindly, at
your convenience, inform me as to what aids [outside
of the Danish translation] you had at hand while trans-