Review of the Hardpress Publishing 2014 Kindle Edition
Well and for me personally, the absolutely only part of Hardpress Publishing’s 2014 Kindle edition Schiller’s Poems that is in any way even remotely a potential positive is that Schiller’s Poems is basically almost free of charge to download, that it has cost me less than a dollar to obtain Schiller’s Poems for my Kindle for iPad (but indeed and certainly, this is not at all sufficient for me for more than a one star ranking, and that therefore Schiller’s Poems has been a total and utter disappointment and I very much and actively do regret even considering it).
For one, and first and foremost, the general set-up of Hardpress Publishing’s Schiller’s Poems for the Kindle is majorly, is totally uncomfortable and patently impossible to easily read, with such a tiny font size that I basically have to zoom in and much expand every single poem. And indeed, this (in my not so humble opinion) truly and annoyingly is massively tedious and painfully frustrating, considering that there are well over three hundred of them (of Friedrich Schiller’s verses), and not to mention that you also cannot just click on specific poems to read, that you basically have to peruse Schiller’s Poems from the first to the last entry, which is really ridiculous and inconvenient, as often, a reader might want to focus on a specific piece of Friedrich Schiller’s verses and not on ALL of his lyrical work. And indeed and furthermore, even with zooming in and me trying to render the featured electronically rendered words larger for my aging eyes (and also using reading glasses), the English language translations contained in Schiller’s Poems still ALWAYS do manage to retain an annoying and frustrating blurriness and are also really and truly only very marginally larger and more easily read.
And for two, aside from the oh so academically aggravating lack of ANY information whatsoever in Schiller’s Poems regarding WHO SPECIFICALLY has rendered Friedrich Schiller’s poems into English (who is the actual translator), that there is no supplemental information at all provided in Schiller’s Poems on Schiller’s life and work, this to and for me definitely is a very problematic and massive shortcoming and oversight. For yes indeed, I do in fact think that a small biographical sketch is essential for ALL anthologies of Friedrich Schiller’s lyrical output, since his poems often do mirror his life and also his politics and philosophy, and this complete lack in Schiller’s Poems is yet another major reason for my annoyance and for me to also consider actively staying away from Hardpress Publishing in the future.
Now with regard to the actual translated into English Friedrich Schiller poems, while there have been a very select few examples which do for me seem to mirror Friedrich Schiller’s original German texts successfully enough and also retain Schiller’s spirit and lyricism (such as for example the rendering into English of An die Freude), sorry, but most of the English renderings of Friedrich Schiller’s verses in Schiller’s Poems have definitely read disappointingly and generally like rather typical and frustrating poetry translations, feeling awkward and as such not really mirroring Friedrich Schiller’s poetry all that well. And thus, even when considering the actual and anonymous English language translations, I would personally NOT AT ALL recommend Schiller’s Poems (but please, do not now ask me for another alternative recommendation, as Schiller’s Poems is the only book of Schiller’s verses I have read in English translation, and indeed, I am so annoyed and disappointed that I definitely am going to go back to reading Friedrich Schiller in German and in particular so with regard to his poetry, with regard to Schiller's lyrical output).