Essay Example on Things Death and Moving on in Seamus Heaney's Aeneid Book

But before his new journey begins Aeneas must put some ghosts to rest Literally He descends into the underworld to visit his dead father Anchises If one wants to translate a Latin text into English one encounters a compression in the original form that requires a sometimes drastic retooling into English syntax Virgil s text and many modern translations are written in dactylic hexameter This line length lends itself to a narrative feel and Heaney maintains a story telling tension in his translation However by using all his poetic wiliness he translates the whole text into loose pentameters and hendecasyllables a sort of English blank verse The effect is a moveable more approachable diction It's worthy to note that this drastic translation though makes it impossible for a parallel print of the original text Yes Heaney retools the entire book but stays true to the mission Unconstrained by the strict syntactical Latin line Heaney dawdles where the language and scene need the attention as when Aeneas looks his last at the unresponsive shade of Dido and a single packed line of Latin here becomes two Of her fate gazes into the distance after her Gazes through tears and pities her as she goes 640 41 The expansion by repetition draws attention as well to Virgil s striking use of the verb prosequor follow after with the eyes 476 Heaney masters the ambiguous Latin in his own way Elsewhere a son s fall through failure of a father s art leads to a second failure of art and the falling of the artist's hands Twice Dedalus tried to model your fall in gold twice His hands the hands of a father failed him 50 52 Theses consecutive lines in the Virgil begin with bis twice a word effectively moved to the end of the lines in Heaney s English In the Latin Virgil s descriptions end mid line mirroring the unfinished artwork but the translation needs two full English lines and it resonates 

Three times he tried to reach arms round that neck Three times the form reached for in vain escaped Like a breeze between his hands a dream on wings Heaney 942 45 The beauty of the repetend and rhythm of these lines carries the sadness of this middle book through the rest of the Aeneid In Seamus Heaney s preface we find out Heaney was translating the book in the days before his death So this book for Virgil's mythological Aeneas thousands of years ago and for the translator Heaney is all about coming to terms with loss overcoming pain laying to rest the dead so one can move forward and conquer Works Cited Vergil Aeneid Book VI Edited by Keith MacIennan Bristol Classical Press 2006 Virgil Aeneid Book VI Translated by Seamus Heaney Faber Faber 2016