be naturally reached, if we consider shortly Mr.
Rowbotham's treatment of its personal aspect. It
is well known that Wagner's dictum was that, for
the production of an ideal music-drama, there should be no subordination of the poet to the musician, or
of the musician to the poet ; and further, that a
greater unity of conception and execution would be
reached when both of these functions could be
assumed by the same creative artist. It is, of course,
an obvious assumption by hostile critics that
W^agner, in becoming his own librettist, was claim-
ing to rank as a writer of the highest poetry, though
all who are familiar with his writings nmst have
been impressed with the experimental spirit in which
his art-works were offered to the world, as a finger-
post to the ideal. But not content with this in-
justice, Mr. Rowbotham, for the purpose of throwing
discredit on Wagner, quotes certain passages from
his libretti, not in the language in which they were
written, but in an English translation, evidently
made with more regard to preserving the peculi-
arities of the verse, and to suiting the exigencies of
the music, than either to conveying the literal mean-
ing, or to expressing adequately the general poetic
value of the original. It is true we have Mr. Row-
botham's assurance that Mr. Corder's English render-
ing, ' while it does not improve upon, at least keeps
pace with the original ' ; but most people will be
glad of an opportunity of judging for themselves on
that point. I accordingly take the first example
quoted in the article, and place the original German
beside the English : —
Mimi hight A mannikin grim, Who in naught but greed Granted me care To count on me When manful I 'd waxed In the wood to slay a worm Which long had hidden there a hoard. Mimi hiess Ein mijrrischer Zwerg In des Neides Zwang Zog er mich auf Dass einst das Kind Wann kiihn es erwuchs Einen Wurm ihm fallt im Wald Der faul dort hiitet einen Hort.
I believe that no one who has the slightest acquaint- ance with German poetry will assert that the general impression produced by reading these lines is the same in both languages, or anything like it. In the English form the verses are undoubtedly doggerel ; but what makes them so.? The suitability of al- literative verse for the requirements of the music- drama will be presently referred to, but even those who are unconvinced on this point will admit that there is nothing in the 7net7-e of the German lines that can account for the unfortunate impression made by the English ones. Yet the metre of the original has been reproduced exactly in the transla- tion. It will hardly be maintained either that there is any incongruity of suggestion in the passage, or any lapse from the ordinary level of treatment appropriate to the hero's narrative of his early life. Wherein then lies the weakness of the English rendering ? The answer is simple. The weakness consists entirely in the unfortunate choice of words and phrases, which has been determined too much by regard to perfect equivalence of accent and alliteration, and too little by regard to the poetic suffgestiveness of the language. It will be worth while to examine the phraseology in detail ; for in this question, as has been said, are involved much wider issues than the reputation of a single libret- tist. If we accept Wordsworth's dictum that the vocabulary of poetry should be drawn from the language of everyday life, with the proviso that it should be capable of being naturally associated with a certain amount of emotion, we shall find in Wagner's lines absolutely nothing to jar on our taste. Every word is simple and expressive, and every phrase natural without being trivial. It is much more difficult, indeed, for a German writer to err in this respect, since the chance of unguardedly using prosaic alternatives is so much smaller than in a mixed language like our own. But how is it with Mr. Corder's version ? There is not a single line without some impropriety of expression. The word 'hight' in the first line, which in itself may be an admissible archaism, is out of keeping with the modern ring of some of the neighbouring expressions. 'Mannikin grim' is a grotesque combination, and the word 'mannikin' is wholly unsuited for use in serious poetry. The phrases 'in naught but greed' and 'granted me care,' while composed of words perfectly suited for poetry, are quite unusual as phrases; and the expression 'to count on me' is almost slang. 'Waxed' is another archaism out of harmony with its surroundings ; the use of the word 'worm' to represent a dragon is now ludicrous, and the last line is spoiled by an inversion foreign to the usage of our language. It could, I think, be readily proved that if a translation of the finest passage in Goethe or Heine were carried out under the restrictions which Mr. Corder has imposed on liimself in the present case, the result would be to the full as unsatisfactory.
On this justification of Wagner's capacity as a poet I would base a restatement of his theory of the proper relation of poetry to music, in a form which is in perfect harmony with his practice, if it is not expressly involved in his written utterances on the subject. It will be granted that the artistic quality of a poem depends on three different elements, viz. the general treatment of the subject.
