"It is a pretty poem, but it is not Homer." - Dr. Samuel Johnson on Pope's Iliad.
Beautiful moments aside, is there anything more wearisome than the idea of Homer in rhyming couplets? I would recommend Richmond Lattimore for the most literal modern translation, and Robert Fagles for the most energetic. And don't forget good old Chapman, so dear to Keats. The Iliad, my personal poem-of-poems, should never be monotonous, and I've always found it frustrating and unfortunate that most English translations fail to enchant the reader. Of course, I'm the type who delights in the endless Catalogue of Ships. Matthew Arnold's essay On Translating Homer is something I always implore my friends to read before attempting a (re)reading of the great epic.
As for Ovid's Metamorphoses, you might enjoy Arthur Golding's translation, the one book that Shakespeare would certainly have chosen for his own desert island list. The Bard makes more echoes/references/allusions to Golding's Ovid than anything else (even Plutarch and Holinshed). I think it's truly one of the most beautiful books in the English language - and knowing your fondness for Spenser, I doubt you would find his archaic style daunting. Ovid has probably fertilized the imaginations of more essential writers than nearly anyone else . . . and Golding's translation is well worth seeking out.
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timeasmymeasure
Classical Suggestions
Date: 2005-03-29 02:10 am (UTC)- Dr. Samuel Johnson on Pope's Iliad.
Beautiful moments aside, is there anything more wearisome than the idea of Homer in rhyming couplets? I would recommend Richmond Lattimore for the most literal modern translation, and Robert Fagles for the most energetic. And don't forget good old Chapman, so dear to Keats. The Iliad, my personal poem-of-poems, should never be monotonous, and I've always found it frustrating and unfortunate that most English translations fail to enchant the reader. Of course, I'm the type who delights in the endless Catalogue of Ships. Matthew Arnold's essay On Translating Homer is something I always implore my friends to read before attempting a (re)reading of the great epic.
As for Ovid's Metamorphoses, you might enjoy Arthur Golding's translation, the one book that Shakespeare would certainly have chosen for his own desert island list. The Bard makes more echoes/references/allusions to Golding's Ovid than anything else (even Plutarch and Holinshed). I think it's truly one of the most beautiful books in the English language - and knowing your fondness for Spenser, I doubt you would find his archaic style daunting. Ovid has probably fertilized the imaginations of more essential writers than nearly anyone else . . . and Golding's translation is well worth seeking out.