Poems for the Consideration of Our Age

VIII

[if we] were to speak, his apologues apologues: moral fables or allegorical stories intended to convey a lesson rank behind Ochino’s Bernardino Ochino (1487–1564) was an influential Italian reformer whose spirited dialogues were widely read in the 16th and 17th centuries apologues, however much he otherwise soars above the latter in shrewd, refined wit. A translator for our time thus finds himself in a predicament, the labor of which very few readers recognize or appreciate. He does not want to prune the beautiful floral and vine-like ornamentation original: "Blumen- und Rankenwerk"; a metaphor for the dense, decorative, and often convoluted rhetorical flourishes characteristic of the Baroque era, and yet he must, if Andreä is to become readable for us; and yet he must only do so to the extent that the beautiful, living plant not only loses nothing of its overall growth, but also stands before our eyes as if it had sprouted right in front of them. If a discerning eye and a light, skillful hand are not required for this, then I do not know what they should be for: for [taking] Andreä as he is, with

jedem catchword: each/to every