Remy on Surrey's Aeneid

“Surrey’s Translation of the Aeneid” - O.B. Hardison (Remy Fisher)

Epic poetry has the ability to make a regular man noble. Through great triumphs and failures epic characters carry the philosophy that shapes cultures and community expectations. Noting this, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, sought to create a vernacular English form that was equivalent to the dactylic hexameter of classical epic, while still containing unrhymed continental forms. Through prosodic analysis, Hardison claims that Surrey’s translation of Vergil’s Aeneid had intentions of introducing a level of nobility into English closely related to the esteemed beliefs of esoteric humanists. The esoteric phase of English civic humanism consisted of translating and imitating original compositions, the end goal of transforming a culture through transformed language. In order to create this genuine translation, Surrey utilized syntactical strategies that mirrored Vergil’s Latin while still remaining innovative.

Vergil’s original consists of 13 lines, is written in dactylic hexameter and has 200 syllables. Surrey’s translation is 20 lines, written in iambic pentameter and contains 210 syllables. Due to the original Aeneid being written in Latin, Surrey’s translation is considered to be written in the Latinate, where the syntactical qualities of Latin are utilized in a different language and allowed him flexibility in sentence structure. For example, Emrys Jones claims that because of Surrey’s “consistency with the idiom of an uninflected language” (247) allowed him to produce structural units within phrases or clauses rather than a line. Latinate combined with enjambment created units different from and often larger than the pentameter line. The meter is generally regular, yet contain substitutions, seemingly only for artistic purpose. Much like the rocky road of a hero’s journey, Surrey’s irregularity helped create a consistent play, counterpoint, of metrical accent against syntactical accent.

Surrey drew from both Sir Thomas Wyatt and his predecessor Gavin Douglas as inspiration for his desire to create a new vernacular using blank verse. Wyatt was interested in domesticating “sophisticated continental forms” into English by using the Petrarchan sonnet, which contains fourteen lines of poetry, an octave and a sestet. He also applied the terza rima, which consists of interlocking three-line rhyme schemes of ABA, BCB, CDC, etc. This technique, at the time, was considered “considerably more modern” – in the sense of being regular (239). Contrastingly, Hardison states that it is “clear” Surrey drew off of Douglas. Although Douglas’ style is “clumsy,” and “familiar,” both qualities can be argued to have propelled Surrey to explore the format of blank verse. Rather than continuing or renewing a tradition, Surrey is committed to improving English by introducing new artistic forms – only partly to renovate the language. He wanted the language to be a “vehicle of values typical of other superior cultures, both ancient and modern,” because to improve the vernacular the ensuing culture is likely to elevate as well. By branching ideas off of the diverse Wyatt and Douglas - regarding both form and prose, Surrey was able to create a unique and well-rounded piece of art.

Hardison asserts that heroic poetry is “not only a civilizing force, it is the most powerful civilizing force that language offers” (241). In light of Tudor esoteric humanism Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, translated Vergil’s Aeneid and subsequently introduced a level of nobleness into English closely related to the respected beliefs of esoteric humanists. Through the use of Latinate and by applying the strategies of Wyatt and Douglas, Surrey created a language of English that drove sophisticated culture.

Bibliography

Hardison, O. B. (n.d.). Tudor Humanism and Surrey's Translation of the Aeneid.