Faust: Part One

Randall Jarrell's translation of Faust is one of his most important achievements. In 1957 he inscribed Goethe's motto on the first page of his notebook - "Ohne Hast aber ohne Rast" ("Without haste but without rest") - and from then until his death in 1965 he worked on the masterpiece of his "own favorite daemon, dear good great Goethe." His intent was to make the German poetry free, unrhymed poetry in English. He all but finished the job before he died, and the few lines that remained untouched - "Gretchen's Room" - were rendered into English by Robert Lowell.