translation studies. retrospective and prospective views

entrance, the pointed arch trimming the moulding of the Coronation gable,
the lancet arch of the windows and the pointed gables surmounting the
central buttresses. The ‘road’ to the top is flanked in its median area by tall
jamb-like statues which indicate to the viewer/traveller the central route
upwards by way of their elongated bodies and greeting gestures. Likewise,
the enthroned figures decorating the six prominent buttresses indicate to
the ‘pilgrim’ alternative side routes to the top and ensure that he/she does
not step out of the vertical strip or fails to conform to the prescribed routes.
Moreover, since they are mainly martyrs and “confessors in the guise of
bishops and abbots” (Clifton-Taylor, 1967: 82), they act like witnesses to the
truth of the Resurrection carved in stone just below the horizontal band
which separates the towers and the stepped gable from the structure
beneath. They also make the connection between the low tiers which
probably represented “the Evangelists, and important persons in the life of
Christ (…) prophets, patriarchs, and other Old Testament figures” (Clifton-
Taylor, 1967: 82) and the nine orders of angels which prefigure the celestial
bliss one would experience on entering the Heavenly Jerusalem.
But at Wells, the theme of heavenly triumph reads also horizontally.
As Alec Clifton-Taylor noticed “in English Gothic, the horizontal lines are
at least as important as the vertical”:
The great breadth of the front [at Wells] seems to be deliberately
emphasized by the two strong horizontal string-courses which girdle it.
Thereby it falls into three clearly defined horizontal zones, each with a
distinct quality of its own. In the lowest stage, for example, the value of
the plain base is at once evident, as is the strong effect of the boldly
projecting gables of the lowest tier of arcades. But these horizontal
divisions are admirably countered by the verticals of the six salient
buttresses, which also serve, by their cast shadows, to add a third
dimension and remove the effect of flatness which mars several of other
English fronts. The composition has a beautiful logic, and is quite
unlike any other. (Clifton-Taylor, 1967: 79)
Indeed, the logic of the composition comes from the well devised
combination between horizontal expanse and vertical audacity, an
interweavement which helps articulate a coherent and, at the same time,
consistent architectural and theological discourse. The horizontal emphasis
which constitutes a recurrent characteristic of the English Gothic, as many
researchers have noticed, does not imply a lack of verticality. Certainly, the
cathedral of Wells would have missed most of its elevation if stripped of its
late fourteenth and early fifteenth century Perpendicular towers. However,
the Early Gothic design did not overlook entirely the vertical ‘pull’ at the
expense of linear development. The Wells façade has six protruding
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