This one really “makes it new,” and it does so cleverly, drawing on the formal reservoir of old English verse. So it makes new in two temporal directions, which is what translation is all about. Wonderfully creative work here.
Succory for “chicory” is a first for me--and chicory is my favorite green! I like “succory” here, since it gives an antique feel (or at least it does for me) without being old-farty.
There are all kinds of pleasing sounds running through this, elegant in a Horatian way, e.g., the vowel play in eye and [/i]plow[/i] and in clipped and sickle.
I admit that I’m not spending any time here looking for accuracy or faithfulness to the original. If I were to do that, and if I found that it veered off in significant ways, I’d just say this is a very successful free version and leave it at that.
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