ABSTRACT
This chapter intends to look at three reasons why formal-equivalence translations are preferred the popular contentions that they are prima facie obvious, that they are logically direct or logically simple, and that they are somehow more objective than dynamic-equivalence translations. As one way around the idea of a gradation of levels of translation, a proponent of literal translation might suggest that logical equivalence is the criterion to preserve in cases of contradictory usage. The Irish definite article in the introductory construction is simply a way of signalling the existential quantifier. The literary context of the poem also reinforces the suggestion that the deep-structure logic of this poem involves the universal quantifier. Literary theory can influence interpretations of the logic of literary works, and translation choices can in turn obscure logical possibilities. In the case of early Irish nature poetry, that have seen that there are alternatives to Meyer's descriptive account of the poetry.
