With Alexander Pope we are stepping into the 18th century when it was believed that a translator should be like a painter who depicted the original with loyalty. But Pope is an exception to this. The famous critic Dr. Johnson thought that Pope’s translation of Homer was a feat that few men could equal. But there are people who accused Pope of converting Homer into an English poet. Pope felt that he had a moral duty to the reader, namely of conveying the spirit of the original text. For that he added and omitted parts as he saw fit. Dr. Johnson supported Pope in this, commenting that it is alright to add to a text if it does not harm its spirit.
Abraham Cowley is another poet who was Dryden’s contemporary and is known for his translations of Pindar’s odes into English. Pindar was an ancient Greek poet and Cowley made use of his form of the ode in English. Cowley becomes significant because he clearly felt that the original need not be adhered to strictly while translating. In this he becomes one of the forerunners of latter day English translators who took liberties with texts they thought were inferior. So he wished to convey the manner in which Pindar wrote, not exactly what he wrote.
It is clear from this that translators of this age felt that it was their duty to introduce classical writers to the readers of their age. For this they often tried to give a contemporary touch to the texts they translated. Here we should make a slight distinction between the age of Dryden and the age of Pope.
When we come to the age of Pope, it was felt that the translator should be more faithful to the original. The famous German poet Goethe was one who believed in this sort of fidelity to the original. The concept of translation as a painting and the translator as an imitator are more important in this age. The 18th century also saw the first book on translation theory in English, which was Alexander Fraser Tytler’s The Principles of Translation published in 1741. He also maintained that the translator should not alter the original a lot and was essentially disagreeing with Dryden. His belief was that the translator should capture the soul of the original author, but allow that to speak through the translator.
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