Analysis of To His Worthy Friend Doctor Witty Upon His Translation Of The Popular Errors
Andrew Marvell 1621 (Winestead) – 1678 (London)
Sit further, and make room for thine own fame,
Where just desert enrolles thy honour'd Name
The good Interpreter. Some in this task
Take of the Cypress vail, but leave a mask,
Changing the Latine, but do more obscure
That sence in English which was bright and pure.
So of Translators they are Authors grown,
For ill Translators make the Book their own.
Others do strive with words and forced phrase
To add such lustre, and so many rayes,
That but to make the Vessel shining, they
Much of the precious Metal rub away.
He is Translations thief that addeth more,
As much as he that taketh from the Store
Of the first Author. Here he maketh blots
That mends; and added beauties are but spots.
Caelia whose English doth more richly flow
Then Tagus, purer then dissolved snow,
And sweet as are her lips that speak it, she
Now learns the tongues of France and Italy;
But she is Caelia still: no other grace
But her own smiles commend that lovely face;
Her native beauty's not Italianated,
Nor her chast mind into the French translated:
Her thoughts are English, though her sparkling wit
With other Language doth them fitly fit.
Translators learn of her: but stay I slide
Down into Error with the Vulgar tide;
Women must not teach here: the Doctor doth
Stint them to Cawdles Almond-milk, and Broth.
Now I reform, and surely so will all
Whose happy Eyes on thy Translation fall,
I see the people hastning to thy Book,
Liking themselves the worse the more they look,
And so disliking, that they nothing see
Now worth the liking, but thy Book and thee.
And (if I Judgement have) I censure right;
For something guides my hand that I must write.
You have Translations statutes best fulfil'd.
That handling neither sully nor would guild
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLLLLLMMNNOOJJLLLL |
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Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1100111111 11101111 0101001011 1101011101 100111101 1101011101 1101011101 1101010111 101111011 1111001101 1111010101 1101010101 110101111 1111110101 101101111 1101010111 111011101 11101011 0111011111 1101110100 111111101 1011011101 010111 10110101010 0111010101 110101111 0101101111 1011010101 1011110101 111110101 1101010111 1101110101 110101111 1001010111 0101011101 1101011101 0111011101 1101111111 110101011 1101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,691 |
Words | 310 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,367 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 308 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 103 Views
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"To His Worthy Friend Doctor Witty Upon His Translation Of The Popular Errors" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2907/to-his-worthy-friend-doctor-witty-upon-his-translation-of-the-popular-errors>.
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