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Not that it helps but for completeness the Temple Classics translation
often read by Eliot has "answer were to one."
Regards,
Rick Parker
Diana Manister wrote:
> *Here are a few translations of the lines in question. I couldn't find John Ciardi's translation, though I searched for it.*
>
> *Diana*
>
> *«S'i' credesse che mia risposta fosse*
>
> *a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,*
>
> *questa fiamma staria sanza pił scosse;*
>
> * **Longfellow :*
>
> "If I believed that my reply were made To one who to the world would e'er return,
>
> * **Mandlebaum:*
>
> "If I thought my reply were meant for one
>
> who ever could return into the world,
>
> this flame would stir no more; and yet, since none-
>
> * Norton:*
>
> If I could believe that my answer might be to a person
> who should ever return unto the world, this flame would stand
> without more quiverings; but inasmuch as, if I hear truth, never
> from this depth did any living man return, without fear of infamy
> I answer thee.
>
> * *
>
> *Henry F. Cary, 1888*
>
>
>
> "If I did think, my answer were to one,
> Who ever could return unto the world,
> This flame should rest unshaken. But since ne'er,
> If true be told me, any from this depth
> Has found his upward way, I answer thee,
>
>
>
> *Lombardo*:
>
>
>
> "If I believed that my answer were made to one who would ever return to
> the world..."
>
> * *
>
> *Dryden:*
>
>
>
> "If I believed (S'io *credesse*) that my response was made (*che mia
> risposta* fosse
> ) to a person who might (A persona *che* mai)
>
> * *
>
> *James Finn Cotter:*
>
>
>
> If I thought that my answer was to someone
>
> Who might one day return up to the world,
>
> This flame would never cease its flickering.
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 23:59:33 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Prufrock question
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Doubling is not simply the use of a persona; Eliot knew about the
> psychology and had doubles in his poetry long before "Prufrock." He did
> not need a clue from Dante. See many poems in IMH. Nor do I understand
> what you can mean by "Eliot's habits of mind."
> N
>
> >>> Chokh Raj 02/01/10 9:54 PM >>>
> Peter, going by Eliot's habits of mind (ref. Southam), the epigraph may
> have provided him with a clue, the all-important starting point, for
> conceiving this dramatic monologue as a disguised mode of confession [a
> la Montefeltro in Inferno] -- putting on the persona of a middle aged
> man. Apart from what "persona" denotes in the epigraph, it could
> easily suggest to Eliot the technique of "persona" as a masque for a
> character other than the poet himself.
>
> Thanks & regards,
>
> CR
>
>
> --- On *Mon, 2/1/10, Peter Montgomery /<[log in to unmask]>/* wrote:
>
> Let us not over look Dante's use of the word PERSONA in Eliot's epigraph
> of the poem.
>
> P.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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