Perhaps it is simply because it was the first translation of the Iliad that I read but Sir Alexander Popes translation has always stuck with me. Others have perhaps smoothed things out but I do not mind things a little prickly.
I love the Robert Fagles translation, too. It is lean and taut and it sounds great in its audiobook form (with Ian McKellen reading!), as well as on the page. I have enjoyed the Lattimore and Fitzgerald versions back in college days. I haven’t yet warmed to the Emily Wilson translation, but I will try it a few more times. My initial impression has been disappointment that it seems less elevated in its rhetoric, but this is only my first take after picking it up a couple of times.
Sam Rodan
Elle Smith
Robert Fagles
Perhaps it is simply because it was the first translation of the Iliad that I read but Sir Alexander Popes translation has always stuck with me. Others have perhaps smoothed things out but I do not mind things a little prickly.
I love the Robert Fagles translation, too. It is lean and taut and it sounds great in its audiobook form (with Ian McKellen reading!), as well as on the page. I have enjoyed the Lattimore and Fitzgerald versions back in college days. I haven’t yet warmed to the Emily Wilson translation, but I will try it a few more times. My initial impression has been disappointment that it seems less elevated in its rhetoric, but this is only my first take after picking it up a couple of times.