Adaptations

I admire the work Charles and Mary Lamb did on “Tales From Shakespeare”. These faithful prose adaptations led me to read at least some of the original plays before I was eleven. Yes, I admit I
needed a dictionary, but it was well worth it.

On the other hand, I much prefer Emily Dickinson’s original:

I never saw a Moor–

I never saw the Sea–
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.

I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven–
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given–

to the rather inept changes by an editor:

I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.

I’ve loved Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale Of Peter Rabbit” [the original version with the original illustrations]
since I was very little. But as for retellings…. don’t get me started!