The second aspect of mind in the text, that it carries an attitude conveyed by the style, is particularly important in the translation of irony, where the attitude towards the subject matter, if lost, would alter the translation completely. The German poet von Törne frequently achieves such irony by speaking with the volces of those he despises, people he regards as speaking and acting without thought of the consequences; his poems are full of thought-less idioms and common German expressions, whose danger is exposed when they are questioned. There is thus the(thoughtless) attitude of the speaker and also the ironical attitude of the narrative voice in the lines "Ja, dann wird deutsch gesprochen .../ Wir sind doch wieder wer" (von Töne 1981:189). literally 'we'lI speak German then ... we're someone again', suggesting the impatient need of Germans everywhere, in the aftermath of the Second World War, to "carry on as if nothing had happened" with "a lack of moral sensitivity bordering on inhumanity" (Sebald 2003, tr. Bell:41-42). It is important here that the irony of "to speak German" is kept. Neither "to speak plainly". which conveys one meaning, nor "to speak our own language", which conveys another, can fully preserve the irony, which lies in the contrast between the idiomatic meaning of "to speak German" ("mit jemandem deutsch reden"), which is to be direct and forthright, and the poet's meaning, as construed by the translator, which is to hide the ruth. Yet the mental proceses experienced by the reader of the German text are only possible for the reader of the English translation if the irony is preserved; something like "plain German" might be a possibility.

Related to the concept of textual mind as textual attitude is a view of the textualized mind as feeling. This affective dimension has always played a role in our understanding of literary texts as Kant stated (see Kant 1987) and as writers such as Fish (1980), Miner (1990) and Downes (2000) point out, but it has gained new emphasis in the study of "poetic effects (Pilkington 2000). Consider this line of poetry by Crossley-Holland (1986:60):

Beyond the hectares of mangel and beet / Open silver-grey arms, stunning, the sea.

Here the words "open .... arms" suggest a homecoming, "stunning", following on from "silver-grey" suggests an impact stronger than the expected "shining", and the whole line with its short phrases and repeated sounds suggests a repetitive, gradual vision. Not, then, a description of the sea but a description of its effect on a returning viewer. A translation will need to keep that mixture of comfort ("open .. arms"), awe ("stunning") and gradual vision, but decisions as to whether the word open is an adjective or a verb or both will probably be less important. In the poem 'Wordly Power' by Pushkin, the word "guliaiuschchikh" (Bethea 1999:150) could be translated by 'wandering' or 'strolling', but the word "sauntering" in "sauntering scions of the civilised class" in a translation by Adès (2001:147) is clearly meant to suggest lack of concern for the crucifix in the poem, and is, according to the translator's personal communication, chosen as an "emotive word".