Ants Oras facts for kids
Ants Oras (born December 8, 1900, died December 21, 1982) was an important Estonian translator and writer. He helped share stories and ideas between different languages.
Early Life and Studies
Ants Oras was born in Tallinn, Estonia. He loved learning and studied at Tartu University. He earned a Master's degree there in 1923. He also studied literature at Oxford University in England.
From 1928 to 1934, Oras taught at Tartu University and Helsinki University. He became a professor at Tartu from 1934 to 1943.
Life During Wartime
In 1943, during World War II, Ants Oras had to leave Estonia. His home country was taken over by the Soviet Union. He first went to Sweden, then moved to England in 1949. Later, he settled in the United States, in Gainesville, Florida.
Even after moving, he continued to teach. He was a visiting professor at Helsinki University from 1957 to 1958. In 1965, he taught in Sweden as a special lecturer. In 1972, he became a professor of English at the University of Florida. This university gave him an honorary doctorate degree in 1975. He passed away in Gainesville, Florida, at the age of 82.
A Life of Words
Ants Oras wrote several books. One book was about the famous writer John Milton. He also wrote The Baltic Eclipse, which talked about what happened when the Baltic countries were taken over.
He was a very skilled translator. He translated many important works into Estonian. These included plays by Shakespeare and books by Goethe, like Faust. He also translated works by Pushkin, Virgil, Alexander Pope, and Molière. Oras also translated many Estonian books into English, German, Swedish, French, and Spanish.
Oras' Pause Test
Ants Oras studied how pauses were used in old English plays. These plays often used a special rhythm called iambic pentameter. He believed that playwrights used pauses in unique ways. He thought these patterns could even change over time.
Oras looked for three types of pauses. These included pauses marked by commas or other punctuation. He also counted breaks when two different characters spoke on the same line. By studying these pause patterns, he could help figure out when plays were written. Most textual scholars agree that his method is helpful and reliable.
Works
- The Critical Ideas of TS Eliot, Tartu, 1932
- Baltic Eclipse, Gollancz, London, 1932
- Laiemasse ringi: kirjanduslikke perspektiive ja profiile (artiklikogumik). Vaba Eesti, Stockholm 1961
- Marie Under (lühimonograafia). Eesti Kirjanike Kooperatiiv, Lund 1963
- Estonian literature in exile (an essay by Ants Oras; with a bio-bibliographical appendix by Bernard Kangro). Eesti Kirjanike Kooperatiiv, Lund 1967
