A Heretical Defence of the Unity of Form and Content

The received view in the debate on the form–content unity of poetry is that the possibility of paraphrase does not sit well with the unity conception. I will suggest a shift from paraphrase to translation, since the latter is substantially closer to the heart of the matter. I will heretically divert from the ‘commonplace’ view, which claims that poetry cannot be translated. However, I will argue that the possibility of translation in this sense can be reconciled, appearances notwithstanding, with the unity of form and content. A further surprising conclusion will be that, while this possibility prima facie appears to be the best argument against the unity, the contrary is the case.