Superb commentary! I poked at the link and the poem a bit, and found I was happiest reading the original, even though I can't understand it completely, and just rolling around in it and pleasuring myself with the richness of the language, the rhyme and the alliteration. The modern translation is workmanlike - "decent", as the essayist says - but it's not particularly magical, it goes on forever, the archaisms bother me rather than entice me (possibly a less contemporary translation that retained more of the Chaucerian sense would have worked better), and there's no way that I am enticed to read it. The original, however, is a sonic joy infused with hints and mystery.
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