This masterful new verse translation of Homer’s classic story of the Trojan War has been hailed by critics as “an astonishing performance” and “a remarkable tour de force.” Robert Fagles, chairman of the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, brings the energy of contemporary language of this 2,700-year-old epic, while maintaining the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, as well as the impact and nuance of Homer’s mesmerizing repeated phrases.
As a scholar, Fagles praises Homer’s directness and simplicity, the breadth of his imagination, and the power of his song. As a translator, he brilliantly captures these very qualities, which makes this Iliad not only a superb literary work, but a tremendous listening experience.
I got the T.E. Lawrence translation — it’s prose!! This is absurd. Amazon must stop this nutty practice of selling any old Odyssey and combining the descriptions. I am trying to find a specific translation and thought I had. You can’t just call it one thing and deliver another. It’s like sending a different book. It IS sending a different book! We need to take action on this beyond the review section.
Unpleasant, old-fashioned translation of a great work UPDATED 05/28/17: Homer’s “Iliad” is truly a great work of literature, and I certainly agree with all the other reviewers who extol its virtues, but the person who translates this epic poem into English from the archaic Greek is all-important to one’s appreciation and enjoyment of it. One needn’t suffer through a poor translation when good ones are available. This public domain translation by Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley Derby (hereafter referred to as Lord Derby) is outdated…
In short: In 2015, this is the best translation to get. Before I begin, a disclaimer. This review is not written to help you decide whether to read the Iliad. It is to help you decide which translation of the Iliad to choose. In short: In 2015, this is the best translation to get. Get it in paper, not Kindle.Â