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>A good translation wants to be read So much this. For example I think a lot of people would actually enjoy Iliad and Odyssey more if their first experience we
by haunter 2y ago
>A good translation wants to be read
So much this. For example I think a lot of people would actually enjoy Iliad and Odyssey more if their first experience weren't in dactylic hexameter.
- jhbadger 2y agoYes. I rather liked "The War Nerd Iliad" by John Dolan ("War Nerd" is a moniker that Dolan used in a column he used to write). It's basically a version of the Iliad that eschews the poetry and tells the story in a straightforward fashion. It's actually quite moving in a way.
- haunter 2y agoThanks never heard about that book but just ordered it
- greenie_beans 2y agoweird, today i researched different translations for both of these. which ones are your favorite?
- cafard 2y agoWho translated the Iliad and Odyssey into (English) hexameters?
- haunter 2y agoRodney Merrill is the only who translated both in english hexameters. If just one there are a lot of translations https://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/homertranslations.html https://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/homertranslations....
- Detrytus 2y agoIs there even such a thing as "English hexameters"? From what I remember from high school hexameter is based on the feature of the Greek language having both "short" and "long" vowels, which is then used to create a particular rhythm. My mother's tongue does not have such feature which makes it impossible to make real hexameters in it. Translations do not even try to imitate it.
- troad 2y agoHexameter just means that the lines have six feet. What counts as a foot in a language will differ, e.g. English feet are based on stress, whereas Ancient Greek feet are based on length. For example, in Ancient Greek, an iamb would be a short syllable followed by a long one (e.g. 'Δάφνη' - Daphne, which in A.G. was pronounced something like 'daph-neh', with the 'neh' held long), whereas in English it's an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (e.g. 'become').
- Yodel0914 2y agoI'm quite enjoying Lattimore's translation of The Iliad. I've tried a couple of other translations which were not at all enjoyable to read.