Die „ungebundene Freiheit der Poesie“. Metrik, Reim, Religion und Politik in den frühen deutschen Übersetzungen von Miltons Paradise Lost

This chapter discusses the first German translation of Paradise Lost, which was begun by Theodor Haak and revised, completed, and published by Ernst Gottlieb von Berg in 1682. After situating Haak and Berg in their social, political, and religious contexts, we consider the several processes of linguistic, political, and metrical translation involved in this publication – not only from Milton to Haak, but also from Haak to Berg’s revision. While Haak retains the political topicality of Milton’s poem, Berg’s version neutralises its republican dimension in favour of an aesthetic and religious interpretation, which was eventually also championed by Johann Jakob Bodmer in his influential prose translation of Paradise Lost (1732). Notably, Berg’s edition is also the first published work of blank verse in German literature. However, while Haak closely reproduces the liberties of Milton’s poetic form, Berg consistently regularises Haak’s metre in terms of Opitz’ principle of alternation.