"The Rimas" by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (Full text in English)

Preface

In submitting a translation of the celebrated Rimas of Gustavo A. Becquer for publication, I do so without absolute knowledge as to whether this task was ever before attempted in the English language. Beyond a solitary translation of" Las Golondrinas," 1 have never seen nor heard of an English transla- tion of this famous collection, and the gentleman who originally called my attention to the beauties of Becquer in the original, himself a Spanish scholar of very high order and a man of wide acquaintance with Spanish literature, assured me that he never had known of an English translation of Becquer's Rimas and doubted whether it were possible.

If ever a literary work was undertaken in a spirit of fondness for its subject, this translation certainly has been, and if the publication of this collection does not meet with the instantaneous recognition which the original demands, I shall have to admit that for me at least, it is an impossibility to repro- duce the spirit of the Spanish poet.

The Rimas of Becquer, while never intended by the author as a perfect work on which his fame might rest, have been judged by posterity to be worthy of the highest recognition and have become a household word in both hemispheres wherever the Spanish language is spoken by cultivated people.

I have fell all along that in attempting this task I had undertaken a very hazardous proposition. The muse of Becquer is so delicately suggestive, so epigrammatic and so concentrated and concise that it must be the despair of every translator who uses

any other language than those directly derived from

the classics like the original. A perfect translation

of Becquer in English, 1 myself believe to be an

utter impossibility. I have found passages in the

different Rimas which could not be reproduced

literally without detriment to the author's spirit,

and certain modifications will therefore be found

which can only be deemed excusable for this reason.

I have, however, in the entire col lection, whenever

the option was given to me of deciding between a

reproduction of the author's letter and his spirit,

invariably given my preference to the latter. This

I believe to be the highest aim of the translator. I

have not even followed punctiliously the meter laid

down in the original, because I have found that in

many cases the English language does not readily

adapt itself to an exact reproduction; and in rhyme

I was confronted with the additional difficulty, that

the assonant rhyme, so largely used by all the Span-

ish writers, is incapable of being conveyed properly

in any of the Northern tongues. Therefore, be-

yond a few specimens which I have chosen to trans-

late in blank verse, I have adopted the policy all

through of substituting rhymes as nearly perfect as

possible for Becquer's assonant rhymes, in the sup-

position that this substitution would be more satis-

factory to English ears, who have not been trained

in the intricacies of the assonant rhyme.

I feel that even in an abortive way I have ren-

dered some service to the Anglo-Saxon race, by

familiarizing them with the poetical works of

Becquer, who may well be classed as one of the

models of lyrical poets. If I have succeeded even

partially in conveying the spirit of the great original

to prospective readers, I shall feel that a worlc which

was begun purely as a labor of love, has also met

with an ample reward.

THE TRANSLATOR.

Seattle, Washington, 1907.

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