![]() Aeneas, one of the sons of King Priam of Troy, escapes from the burning city with his father Anchises and his young son Ascanius. The Aeneid, written by Virgil early in the reign of the Emperor Augustus (27 BC to 14 AD) was an attempt to create an origin story for the Roman people. While this personal element is never overt in the translation, the poet's identification with the material, as so often with Heaney, is the key to its truth.ġ. Unlike the Beowulf, it was not a commission but a labor of love, arising from the confluence of three elements: his gratitude to his old Latin teacher, his need to come to terms with the death of his father, and his thoughts on the imminent birth of his granddaughter. It makes a very interesting comparison to the earlier volume, showing greater freedom and flair in its poetry, but less successful as a standalone book. When reviewing Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf (2000), I came upon this later translation of an ancient text, published posthumously in 2016. ![]() Is it perhaps time to start our Reconciliation? We know that, but in our endless activity, we indefinitely put off that final meeting with our Shadow.īut Thanatos is OUR shadow, and we will all meet him soon enough.Īnd as sons of Darth Vader, we all are CHILDREN of grim Thanatos, too. for all our beginnings are in a Blighted Garden. So, "in my beginning is my end," to quote Four Quartets. Perhaps as consumers of family films with predictably happy endings we smile wistfully when young Luke Skywalker's father, Darth Vader, is unveiled as both his nemesis and his own blood. Oh, it's not so bad, as Keats tells us in such ruminative works as Ode to a Nightingale - this sighing "being half in love with Death" - for, to go further, this Reality Principle of our End DOES promise peace when its blues begin to court our souls. And we must begin to move to a slower, more sombre and a very Different Drummer! ![]() So the final stage of our too-short lives must be Synced to that Kingdom's Elegiac Poetry. In fact, it's just around the corner, that mournful forever world of penance and reconciliation that Virgil - translated by Nobel laureate Heaney - describes so perfectly here. Everyone, in these fast-paced consumer-driven times, seems to forget so easily that the ultimate and eternal destination in our lives is the Kingdom of Thanatos.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |