[John Whitworth]

I don't know if anyone has considered the commonestform of second=language writing in English. I mean poets who wrote in both English and in Latin. The foremost example in Milton. My Latin is not up to saying how good his L:atin poems are, but scholar-critics whose Latin IS up to it say that his Latin poems are the equal of his English ones. The other sriter you migt consider is Samuel Becket who wrote 'Waiting for Godot' in French and then put it into English. At least I think that's what he did. In both cases you might say that the kind of English these men wrote is strongly affected by the other language that they know well. Jorge Luis Borges ised to translate his stories and poems into English. He did it with a collaborator but I don't think that was because hi English wasn't up to it. On the other hand, George Bernard Shaw said he had avoided learning another language because he thought it would have detrimental effects on his English. Not a poet of course, but a fine stylistin my opinion.