Studia Islandica - 01.06.1957, Page 59

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did not translate Paradise Lost directly from the original;
judged from his results, handicapped as he was, still more
could have been expected from him, if the original had
been available to him and mastery of the English langu-
age had permitted him to use it. He possessed two of the
most important qualifications of a successful translator:
great poetic ability and mastery of his native language.
That he must have been, at least to some extent, in sym-
pathy with the subject, is beyond doubt. He told Hender-
son that the translation had afforded him many a happy
hour. It was not unnatural that Þorláksson should be at-
tracted to the Paradise Lost. We know him to have been
a religious man. As a deeply felt Biblical epic, the poem
was, therefore, bound to appeal to him. We also know
that Þorláksson was interested in Milton, the man, no
less than in him as a poet. In a letter to his friend, Hall-
dór Hjálmarsson, dated September 3, 1803, Þorláksson
writes: “But now, as I mentioned Tullin’s writings, it
occurs to me to ask you, whether you have ever seen or
know of anyone in the vicinity who possesses Milton’s
Vitam printed in German. In his preface of 1762, his
translator, Zachariá, promises it as a third volume, but
it does not accompany the copy which I received. I should
be greatly interested in seeing it.”x) Whether Þorláksson
ever got hold of the life of Milton we do not know. How-
ever, this statement proves beyond doubt that he used
the 1762 edition of Zachariá’s translation.
In discussing Þorláksson’s translation of Paradise Lost,
remembering the adverse conditions under which he la-
bored, one naturally recalls under what circumstances
Milton wrote the poem, and draws an analogy between
the two writers. Undeniably, there are certain similari-
ties. Suffering, sorrow and broken health marked the old
1) Jón Þorláksson, Dánarminning, pp. 193-194.