This ballad was written by Goethe in 1782 and has been famous ever since. I have kept Goethe's rhyme scheme in my translation.

Heinrich Heine wrote this poem in 1824 taking the story from an old legend. It has been set to music many times, notably by Clara Schumann and Franz Liszt.

This is my translation of ‘Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage’ written by Joachim du Bellay in 1558. Du Bellay spent four years in Rome but missed the little village by the River Loire in Anjou where he had grown up. This is the best known of many sonnets in which he longs to go back to his house and garden there.