The Seafarer Comments

I have read this poem in the original and I must say I love Pound’s paraphrase which captures the tone and rhythm of the original very well. Most people would never take the trouble to learn Old English, so Pound has performed a great service to us with this poem.

Amen to what John Richter said below, except that I couldn't even make it through the entire poem even once. I enjoyed the images he evoked until about halfway through and then just couldn't read the rest. My wife says I don't have enough patience, and sometimes I don't.

Pound is/was an incredibly wonderful poet - this poem being an epic representative of that. However I would not have chosen this for the daily read and in fact don't have the time to read this poem again in it's entirety today. While it is absolutely unique and written in a style only Ezra Pound could ever have captured, it is far too deeply embedded in metaphor to be appreciated by a daily reading admirer... This poem is legendary - while others of a shorter nature are probably more appropriate for the daily modern poem... IMO

How to say enough about 'The Seafarer'? 1. It is the greatest translation of Anglo Saxon poetry into 'modern' English by anyone ever-by the greatest English poet-translator ever. 2. Like other Pound translations (from Chinese, Latin, Provencal French, etc.) , 'The Seafarer' has transcended mere translation to become one of English poetry's great English poems, anthologized along with Shakespeare's and Keats' sonnets and the visionary poems of Blake, et al. 3. At first it seems like a difficult read, but on re-readings it soon becomes easier & easier, and its rewards are RICH.