A Poem Worth Translation

Some background to one of my translations

In memory of a departed great friend, a second friend sent an English translation of a German poem that was said to be engraved upon Beethoven's tombstone. The translation made a very good impression upon me, so I decided to look up the original in German. After some research, I discovered that the original poem had been written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but had not been engraved upon Beethoven's gravestone. Nor did the first English translation I had read really convey the meaning of the German. I decided to make my own translation. Here it is.

So wirkt mit Macht der edle Mann

Jahrhunderte auf seines Gleichen:

Denn was ein guter Mensch erreichen kann,

Ist nicht im engen Raum des Lebens zu erreichen.

Drum lebt er auch nach seinem Tode fort,

Und ist so wirksam als er lebte;

Die gute Tat, das schöne Wort,

Es strebt unsterblich, wie er sterblich strebte.

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


The power of a noble person

Stretches across the centuries:

Because what a good mortal can accomplish

Cannot be completed within the short span of life.

So he lives yet beyond death—

As effective as in flesh.

The good deed, the beautiful word

Work just as well in eternity as in life.

This translation was published in Think Like Beethoven.

a cemetery in Germany
a cemetery in Germany