Studia Islandica - 01.06.1957, Page 56

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kind of repetition Milton uses frequently, namely, a series
of words in the same construction, such as: “Unrespited,
unpitied, unreprieved” (II, 185). This most effective fea-
ture is very seldom lost in the translation.
Then let us consider the language of the translation.
Milton’s thought moves on a high plane. He treats of
life and death, and even greater things, God and etemity.
His language is attuned to his lofty thoughts. Dignity
and stateliness are its chief characteristics. It is far re-
moved from the level of ordinary conversation. Therefore,
it is of the greatest importance that a translator should
faithfully reproduce Milton’s language. Þorláksson de-
serves high praise for his success in that respect. Hardly
ever does he fail to maintain his language on a level com-
parable to that of the original. His interest in the past and
his good taste led him to the old literature of his country,
for the selection not merely of his verse forms, but also
of his language. He went to the purest fount of his mother-
tongue, the Eddas and the Sagas. He selected the style
and language of the Völuspá (The Sibyl’s Prophecy), the
most sublime of the Eddic poems, dealing with the highest
matters, man and his destiny, the beginning and the end
of the world. He could find no more fitting vehicle for
Paradise Lost.
Now it is a well-known fact that both the Eddic poems
and in particular the Skaldic poems developed a langu-
age of their own. Alliteration and complicated verse forms
(as in the Skaldic poetry) demanded that a poet possess
a rich vocabulary. A number of archaic words, obsolete
in ordinary speech, were used in the poetry, and new
words were formed for the same purpose. Thus, there
came into existence the large body of the so-called kenn-
ings, poetic circumlocutions. Þorláksson uses a number
of such archaic words, such as: harri, jöfr, gramr, dögl-
ingr, all synonyms for king. He also makes use of kenn-
ings like: bjarka-brjótr (breaker of the birch-trees) for