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Question 1

Declaró que en la prosodia lo importante es el tiempo, no el acento.

Answer 1

He [Lanier] declared that in the prosody what is important [the important thing] is time, not the accent.

Question 2

A su preocupación musical unió una preocupación metafísica, que lo asemeja a ciertos poetas ingleses del siglo XVII.

Answer 2

To his musical preoccupation he [Lanier] joined [added] a metaphysical preoccupation, which relates him to certain English poets of the seventeenth century.

Question 3

Lanier acusó a Whitman de confundir la cantidad con la calidad y escribió: “Whitman supone que porque las praderas son vastas, la orgía es admirable, y porque el Mississippi es extensor, todo americano es un dios.”

Answer 3

Lanier accused Whitman of confusing quantity with quality and wrote: “Whitman supposes that because the prairies are vast, the orgy [debauchery] is admirable, and because the Mississippi is extensive, every American is a god.”

Question 4

No alcanzó a ser un gran poeta; quizá la voluntad de escribir para ilustrar una teoría previa entorpeció su inspiración.

Answer 4

He [Lanier] never succeeded in being a great poet; perhaps the will [wish] to write in order to illustrate a predetermined theory hindered his inspiration.

Question 5

Ha dejado estrofas hermosas.

Answer 5

He [Lanier] has left beautiful verses.

Question 6

A sus tratados de prosodia debemos agregar la novela autobiográfica Tiger lailies (1867) y un estudio sobre Shakespeare y sus precursores.

Answer 6

To his [Lanier’s] treatises about prose we should add the autobiographical novel Tiger Lilies (1867) and a study about Shakespeare and his precursors.

Question 7

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 – 92) gozó, en su tiempo y en el norte, de una popularidad casi igual a la del múltiple y erudito Longfellow.

Answer 7

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 – 92) enjoyed, in his time and in the north, popularity almost equal to that of the versatile and erudite Longfellow.

Question 8

Nació en Haver Hill, Massachussetts.

Answer 8

He [Whittier] was born in Haver Hill, Massachussetts.

Question 9

Perteneció, como sus padres, a aquella Sociedad de Amgios, comúnmente apodados cuáqueros, que, a partir del siglo XVII, se han negado al ejercicio de la violencia y sólo participan en la guerra como enfermeros, a veces en los campos de batalla.

Answer 9

He [Whittier] belonged, like his parents, to that Society of Friends, commonly nicknamed Quakers, who, starting in the seventeenth century, have doubted [rejected] the practice of violence and only participate in war as nurses, sometimes on the battlefields.

Question 10

Fue lo que hoy llamaríamos un poeta comprometido; abogó en versos generalmente sonoros por la abolición de la esclavitud.

Answer 10

He [Whittier] was what today we would call a committed [dedicated] poet; he pleaded in verses [that are] generally sonorous for the abolition of slavery.

Question 11

Como sucede en tales casos, el triunfo de la causa auspiciada por él ha disminuido el interés de su obra.

Answer 11

As it happens in such cases, the triumph of the cause sponsored by him [Whittier] has diminished the interest of his work.

Question 12

En las antologías sobrevive su extensor poema Snowbound, que describe vívidamente una nevada en Nueva Inglaterra.

Answer 12

In anthologies survives his [Whittier] extensive poem “Snowbound,” which vividly describes a snowfall [blizzard] in New England.

Question 13

Whittier fue tan americano que pudo prescindir de americanismos.

Answer 13

Whittier fue tan americano que pudo prescindir de americanismos.

Question 14

De Emily Dickinson (1830 – 86) es habitual afirmar que fue la última de los trascendentalistas.

Answer 14

Of Emily Dickinson (1830 – 86) it is habitual to affirm that she was the last of the transcendentalists.

Question 15

Nació en Massachussetts, en el pueblo de Amherst, donde pasaron casi todos sus días.

Answer 15

She [Dickinson] was born in Massachusetts, in the town of Amherst, where almost all her days passed.

Question 16

Su padre era un puritano de la antigua escuela; Emily ha escrito que su corazón era “puro y terrible” y lo amó con una reverencia que excluía toda intimidad.

Answer 16

Her [Dickinson’s] father was a Puritan of the old school; Emily has written that his heart was “pure and terrible” and she loved him with a reverence that excluded all intimacy.

Question 17

Edward Dickinson era abogado; regalaba libros a su hija, con la curiosa recomendación de no leerlos, para que no inquietaran su espíritu.

Answer 17

Edward Dickinson was a lawyer; he gifted books to his daughter, with the curious recommendation not to read them, in order that they would not worry her spirit [lest they upset her].

Question 18

La teocracia puritana ya no existía, pero había legado a sus descendientes un estilo de vida, un hábito de rigor y de soledad.

Answer 18

The Puritan theocracy no longer existed, but it had left to its descendants a style of life, a habit of rigor and of solitude.

Question 19

A los veintitrés años, durante una breve visita a Washington, conoció a un joven predicador; instantáneamente se enamoraron, pero Emily, al saber que estaba casado, no quiso verlo más y volvió a su pueblo.

Answer 19

At age twenty-three, during a brief visit to Washington, she [Dickinson] met a young preacher; they instantly fell in love with each other, but Emily, on learning that he was married, did not want to see him more and returned to her town.

Question 20

Era bonita y no dejó de ser sonriente; buscó refugio en las amistades epistolares, en el diálogo con personas de su familia, en la lectura fiel de unos pocos libros – Keats, Shakespeare, la Escritura – en largas caminatas campestres acompañada por su perro Carlo y en la composición de breves poemas, de los que dejaría unos mil, y cuya publicación no le interesó.

Answer 20

She [Dickinson] was beautiful and did not stop smiling; she looked for refuge in epistolary friendships, in dialogue with the people of her family, in the faithful reading of a few books – Keats, Shakespeare, the Bible – in long country walks accompanied by her dog Carlo and in the composition of brief poems, of which she would leave some [about] one thousand, and whose publication did not interest her.