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Seventeenth Century
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John Dryden |
The next age in English literature, the 17th century is considered to be the age of prose and reason. This age marked the end of the first romantic age of Shakespeare and is characterized by a return to the classics. In translation too we find a similar change. The translators of the previous age were motivated by the sheer desire to discover other cultures and literatures. But in the 17th century we find more of didacticism in the translators. They wished to bring back the classics and the classical seriousness into English literature. The major translators of the age are its major literary figures – John Dryden and Alexander Pope. Dryden worked on Virgil’s Latin classic The Aenied and Pope translated Homer’s Odyssey from Greek. Dryden was also an influential critic. Latin and its grammar played a decisive role in shaping his views on writing styles. It is Dryden who came up with very significant terms in translation theory like metaphrase, paraphrase and imitation. Dryden was of the view that paraphrase or translation that took the middle path was the best.
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