Virgil'S English Translators: Civil Wars to Restoration

The translations of Virgil's Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid reflect the cultural influence of Virgil over the seventeenth century, with each translator interpreting the text in light of their political attitudes. The book explores the writers' use of Virgil to display and interrogate their political loyalties, articulate personal responses to past traumas, and express their hopes for the country's future.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 06 February 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Analyses the translations of the Eclogues,Georgics and the Aeneid to reflect the cultural influence of Virgil over the decades of the seventeenth century

Analyses the translations of Virgil that were written during the civil wars,Interregnum,and early Restoration

Appraises the translations as a group,but also places each of them within the context of the translator's individual literary corpus

Considers each translation in the light of the translator's political attitudes

This book considers the writers who translated Virgil into English during the English civil wars,the Interregnum and the early years of the Stuart Restoration (c. 1636 c. 1661). It argues that these writers translated Virgil in order to display and interrogate their political loyalties,articulate personal responses to past traumas and express their hopes for the country's future.

All of Virgil's English translators in this period were in some way associated with the royalist cause,but the political elements of their respective translations demonstrate that royalism itself was not a monolithic political standpoint and instead encompassed a wide variety of opinions regarding the policy of individual monarchs and the institution of monarchy.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474475655