"Reynard the Fox : a poem in twelve cantos. Translated from the German by E.W. Holloway ; with thirty-seven engravings on steel, after designs by H. Leutemann."

We now arrive at the Low-German version of the poem, entitled Reineke Bos, of which the following pages contain a translation. It is written in the dialect of Lower-Saxony , the first edition was published at Lubeck in 1498 , and the second at Rostock, in 1517. It may be considered on the whole, as a free translation from the Flemish poem, in which the writer has taken the liberty of condensing and expanding the descriptions according to his own ideas of taste and propriety, as also of omitting certain incidents, and introducing others. ... Having thus traced the history of the original poem from the commencement of the twelfth century , to the present time, it only remains to add a few words respecting the present translation. The writer has followed his original as closely as the varying structure of the two languages world permit; and has to acknowledge the assistance he has derived in so doing, from consulting the above mentioned version by Simrock. In the omission of the glossary, and the division of the poem into cantos, he has followed the arrangement of Goethe, as that best adapted. ... The German names of the animals, have with the exception of those of the Fox and Bear, been retained in the translation, as for many of them, the English language possesses no equivalent words, while those bearing a meaning, would when translated, have been but ill adapted for introduction into verse. - [Author]

Language: English