Below is a translation by James Owens of the poem ‘Ballade des äußeren Lebens’ by the Austrian poet, novelist and essayist Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929). Stefan Zweig wrote of Hofmannsthal: “In world literature, except for Keats and Rimbaud, I know no other youthful example of a similar impeccability in the mastering of language, no…

        The Death of Dido   —Aeneid IV, 692-705   She searched the sky for light, and moaned to find it. Then mighty Juno, for pity on long pain and a hard-dying soul, sent Iris to unbind her from the struggle in her knotted limbs, insane with grief, burning with grief before her…