--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is a commonplace that Racine is…" description: "\"It is a commonplace that Racine is untranslatable. This is not because his verse is difficult, but because it is not.\" — Kenneth Rexroth" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/kenneth-rexroth-13529_commonplace_it-is-a-commonplace-that-racine-is-untra_1072037.jpg" --- # It is a commonplace that Racine is untranslatable. This is… ![“It is a commonplace that Racine is untranslatable. This is not because his verse is difficult, but because it is not.” quote by Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/kenneth-rexroth-13529_commonplace_it-is-a-commonplace-that-racine-is-untra_1072037.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/kenneth-rexroth-13529_commonplace_it-is-a-commonplace-that-racine-is-untra_1072037.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/kenneth-rexroth-13529_commonplace_it-is-a-commonplace-that-racine-is-untra_1072037.jpg) > “It is a commonplace that Racine is untranslatable. This is not because his verse is difficult, but because it is not.” [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Racine's verse seems untranslatable not because of difficulty, but because it resists translation. **In simple terms:** Racine's poetry resists translation. Key Takeaway Appreciate the limits of translation. Themes language translation poetry Mood analytical thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading foreign poetry - teaching literature - cross‑cultural communication Key Concepts untranslatability literary theory Questions to Reflect On - Why do some texts resist translation? - What is lost in translation? A Different Perspective Some works lose nuance when translated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Commonplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commonplace/) [Commonplace Racine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commonplace-racine-2675320/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Racine Untranslatable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racine-untranslatable-2675317/) [Translation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/translation/) [Untranslatable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/untranslatable-885507/) [Untranslatable Verse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/untranslatable-verse-2675318/) [Verse Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verse-difficult-2675319/) [Verses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verses/) ## Related quotes > [The untranslatable thought must be the most precise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-untranslatable-thought-must-be-the-most-precise/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Your voice is wild and simple. You are untranslatable Into any one tongue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/your-voice-is-wild-and-simple-you-are-untranslatable-into-any-one/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [I am too not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-am-too-not-a-bit-tamed-i-too-am-untranslatable-i-sound-my-barbaric/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-too-am-not-a-bit-tamed-i-too-am-untranslatable-i-sound-my-barbaric/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [There is an hour of the afternoon when the plain is on the verge of saying something. It never says, or perhaps it says…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/there-is-an-hour-of-the-afternoon-when-the-plain-is-on-the-verge-of/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden/proper-names-are-poetry-in-the-raw-like-all-poetry-they-are/) [W. H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden/) > [ “the best of Cervantes is untranslatable, and this undeniable fact is in itself an incentive \[for one and all\] to learn Spanish.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aubrey-f-g-bell/the-best-of-cervantes-is-untranslatable-and-this-undeniable-fact-is/) [Aubrey F.G. Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aubrey-f-g-bell/) > [The history of a culture can be determined by its untranslatable words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/the-history-of-a-culture-can-be-determined-by-its-untranslatable-words/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/i-too-am-not-a-bit-tamed-i-too-am-untranslatable/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [There are certain concepts, which exist in english, and are unthinkable, untranslatable into Hebrew and vice versa.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amos-oz/there-are-certain-concepts-which-exist-in-english-and-are-unthinkable-2/) [Amos Oz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amos-oz/) > [“Dharma, the word at the heart of the epic, is in fact untranslatable. Duty, goodness, justice, law and custom all have something to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gurcharan-das/dharma-the-word-at-the-heart-of-the-epic-is-in-fact-untranslatable/) [Gurcharan Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gurcharan-das/) > [Security is a component of everyday life that one spending time in Washington, D.C., gets accustomed to. Metal detectors, police vehicle barriers and heavily-armed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-crapo/security-is-a-component-of-everyday-life-that-one-spending-time-in/) [Mike Crapo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-crapo/) > [Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cumming/finally-the-scariest-thing-about-abuse-of-any-shape-or-form-is-in-my/) [Alan Cumming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cumming/) > [It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/it-would-be-a-piece-of-ingenuousness-to-accuse-the-man-of-today-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [It was just the sort of yatch you'd expect a rock promoter to have. Mirrored ceilings, marble, Jacuzzis and leopard-skin everything, it made the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-anderson/it-was-just-the-sort-of-yatch-you-d-expect-a-rock-promoter-to-have/) [Pamela Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-anderson/) ## More by Kenneth Rexroth > [I've had it with these cheap sons of bitches who claim they love poetry but never buy a book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/i-ve-had-it-with-these-cheap-sons-of-bitches-who-claim-they-love/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [“There are sparkles of rain on the bright Hair over your forehead; Your eyes are wet and your lips Wet and cold, your cheek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/there-are-sparkles-of-rain-on-the-bright-hair-over-your-forehead-your/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [The basic line in any good verse is cadenced... building it around the natural breath structures of speech.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/the-basic-line-in-any-good-verse-is-cadenced-building-it-around-the/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [Maturity is having the ability to escape categorization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/maturity-is-having-the-ability-to-escape-categorization/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, takes responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, finds mischief boring and avoids…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/the-mature-man-lives-quietly-does-good-privately-takes-responsibility/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [Erotic love is one of the highest forms of contemplation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/erotic-love-is-one-of-the-highest-forms-of-contemplation/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [Victorian society was homogeneous without being homogenized. It was, to paraphrase the epigram about Parliament, a society of extreme eccentrics who agreed so well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/victorian-society-was-homogeneous-without-being-homogenized-it-was-to/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [Crooked cards and straight whiskey, Slow horses and fast women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/crooked-cards-and-straight-whiskey-slow-horses-and-fast-women/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [“The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, assumes personal responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, finds mischief boring and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/the-mature-man-lives-quietly-does-good-privately-assumes-personal/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [“Imperceptible It withers in the world, This flower-like human heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/imperceptible-it-withers-in-the-world-this-flower-like-human-heart/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [Harvey , Galileo , Copernicus do not seem occult to us, but they did so to their contemporaries, hierophants of the mysteries of Natural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/harvey-galileo-copernicus-do-not-seem-occult-to-us-but-they-did-so-to/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [The free, creative, loving people who shine so brightly in my memory of studios and coffee shops have become models for a huge section…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/the-free-creative-loving-people-who-shine-so-brightly-in-my-memory-of/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [Art is the reasoned derangement of the senses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/art-is-the-reasoned-derangement-of-the-senses/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [The moral issues with which Marcus struggles would be, as he points out, unchanged whether the universe were mechanical and devoid of meaning or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/the-moral-issues-with-which-marcus-struggles-would-be-as-he-points/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) > [You don't become a saint until you lead a good life whether in Tibet or Italy or America.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-rexroth/you-don-t-become-a-saint-until-you-lead-a-good-life-whether-in-tibet/) [Kenneth Rexroth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) [Explore all 50 Kenneth Rexroth quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-rexroth/) ## More Commonplace quotes > [It was just the sort of yatch you'd expect a rock promoter to have. Mirrored ceilings, marble, Jacuzzis and leopard-skin everything, it made the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-anderson/it-was-just-the-sort-of-yatch-you-d-expect-a-rock-promoter-to-have/) [Pamela Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-anderson/) > [It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/it-would-be-a-piece-of-ingenuousness-to-accuse-the-man-of-today-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [Finally, the scariest thing about abuse of any shape or form, is, in my opinion, not the abuse itself, but that if it continues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cumming/finally-the-scariest-thing-about-abuse-of-any-shape-or-form-is-in-my/) [Alan Cumming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cumming/) > [Security is a component of everyday life that one spending time in Washington, D.C., gets accustomed to. Metal detectors, police vehicle barriers and heavily-armed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-crapo/security-is-a-component-of-everyday-life-that-one-spending-time-in/) [Mike Crapo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-crapo/) > [Funerals and weddings were commonplace, and nothing could have been so interesting to them as the coming of the end of the world ...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-eggleston/funerals-and-weddings-were-commonplace-and-nothing-could-have-been-so/) [Edward Eggleston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-eggleston/) > [To be original is to discover the commonplace of a thousand years--to face at first the sneer that no one would have thought of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stanley-lee/to-be-original-is-to-discover-the-commonplace-of-a-thousand-years-to/) [Gerald Stanley Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stanley-lee/) > [Ever since childhood I have scorned the commonplace limits so often set upon human ambition. Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury - to me these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/ever-since-childhood-i-have-scorned-the-commonplace-limits-so-often/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [After all, the commonplaces are the great poetic truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/after-all-the-commonplaces-are-the-great-poetic-truths/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [“In a sense nothing is commonplace, for everything exists visibly by means of light and color, and light and color are the most fundamental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-parkhurst-the-painter-in-oil/in-a-sense-nothing-is-commonplace-for-everything-exists-visibly-by/) [David Parkhurst The Painter In Oil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-parkhurst-the-painter-in-oil/) > [Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. Their cousins can tell you nothing about them. They lived in their writings, and sotheir house and street…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/great-geniuses-have-the-shortest-biographies-their-cousins-can-tell/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The profession of music is lacking in horse sense, not only because the commonplace variety of horse is absent from its operations, but because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-partch/the-profession-of-music-is-lacking-in-horse-sense-not-only-because/) [Harry Partch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-partch/) > [Lying, stealing, and cheating are commonplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-b-wirthlin/lying-stealing-and-cheating-are-commonplace/) [Joseph B. Wirthlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-b-wirthlin/) > [Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/which-are-the-people-who-have-influenced-us-most-not-the-ones-who/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [We look for visions of heaven and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oswald-chambers/we-look-for-visions-of-heaven-and-we-never-dream-that-all-the-time/) [Oswald Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oswald-chambers/) > [Science is wonderful at destroying metaphysical answers, but incapable of providing substitute ones. Science takes away foundations without providing a replacement. Whether we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-putnam/science-is-wonderful-at-destroying-metaphysical-answers-but-incapable/) [Hilary Putnam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-putnam/) [Browse all 344 Commonplace quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commonplace/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is a commonplace that Racine is untranslatable. 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