Become a Member
Opinion

T. S. Eliot, in Hebrew

January 27, 2011 12:13
1 min read

I see that an Israeli poet, Uri Bernstein, has rendered T. Eliot's poetry into Hebrew. It's the first time that the entire canon of the poet acknowledged to be one of the biggest anti-Semitic writers of the 20th century has been translated into the language.
I'd be interested to see how Bernstein translated
Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar:

Tra-la-la-la-la-la-laire--nil nisi divinum stabile
est; caetera fumus--the gondola stopped, the old
palace was there, how charming its grey and pink--
goats and monkeys, with such hair too!--so the
countess passed on until she came through the
little park, where Niobe presented her with a
cabinet, and so departed.

Burbank crossed a little bridge
Descending at a small hotel;
Princess Volupine arrived,
They were together, and he fell.

Defunctive music under sea
Passed seaward with the passing bell
Slowly: the God Hercules
Had left him, that had loved him well.