order and beauty

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≪I can't use "exacerbate" in my council reports; ... any construction
that
they haven't seen in People or their daily newspaper or heard on the
TV.≫ What? They still read newspapers!?

≪There, all is but order and beauty≫ reminds me of Housman: 'Be still
my soul; it is but for a season: let us endure an hour, and see
injustice done.' What a shame that such constructions are no longer
intelligible.

I would that it were still possible to use 'whither' and 'whence'; so
much better than 'where to' and 'where from'. But to a newer generation
than mine, they too are unintelligible.

This little exercise shows how easy it is to transcribe sense and how
difficult to translate elegance. That said, one of the most amazing
examples I know of successful translation is by Angelo Branduardi, a
singer who rendered Yeats into Italian (accompanied by accoustic guitar
and recorder)--it's absolutely the most romantic thing I've ever heard.
Gives me goose blimps.