The Owl and the Nightingale
A New Verse Translation
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the UK Poet Laureate and bestselling translator of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a complete verse translation of a spirited and humorous medieval English poem
The Owl and the Nightingale, one of the earliest literary works in Middle English, is a lively, anonymous comic poem about two birds who embark on a war of words in a wood, with a nearby poet reporting their argument in rhyming couplets, line by line and blow by blow. In this engaging and energetic verse translation, Simon Armitage captures the verve and humor of this dramatic tale with all the cut and thrust of the original.
In an agile iambic tetrameter that skillfully amplifies the prosody and rhythm of the original, Armitage’s translation moves entertainingly from the eloquent and philosophical to the ribald and ridiculous. Sounding at times like antagonists in a Twitter feud, the owl and the nightingale quarrel about a host of subjects that still resonate today—including love, marriage, identity, cultural background, class distinctions, and the right to be heard. Adding to the playful, raucous mood of the barb-trading birds is Armitage, who at one point inserts himself into the poem as a “magistrate . . . to adjudicate”—one who is “skilled with words & worldly wise / & frowns on every form of vice.”
Featuring the Middle English text on facing pages and an introduction by Armitage, this volume will delight readers of all ages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Delivered in a spirited iambic tetrameter, Armitage's translation of "a quarrel that continues for the better part of eighteen hundred lines of verse, in a style or genre sometimes described as ‘comic debate poetry,' " brings to life a dispute between its eponymous creatures. It's one of the earliest literary works in Middle English, whose date of composition remains unknown, and its rhyming couplets give the poem (and the fighting) a steady rhythm, capturing moments of unexpected philosophical depth as well as bawdy hilarity. Neither bird is above physical insults, as the nightingale declaims: "Your coal-black eyes are weirdly broad" and "You roost by day & fly by night/ which proves that something isn't right." The owl accuses the nightingale of "witter like an Irish priest." These quarreling creatures often quote King Alfred ("Those mixing with a filthy kind/ shall never leave the dirt behind"), though the owl occasionally imparts even wiser adages, "For as a rule, a thing that pleases/ rankles if it never ceases," "treachery becomes disgrace/ when played out in a public place." The facing Middle English text provides a foray for the curious, and Armitage's introduction expertly sets up this singular work.
