Opinions on Peter Green's Iliad? It came out a few months ago and it's getting tons of praise...
>Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Peleus's son's
>calamitous wrath, which hit the Achaians with countless ills—
>many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hades,
>souls of heroes, their selves left as carrion for dogs
>and all birds of prey, and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled—
>from the first moment those two men parted in fury,
>Atreus's son, king of men, and the godlike Achilles.
He's made a greentext Iliad? Seems like it's really getting there as a literary form
>>7379054
>hurrr durrr i dont like all the other translations i'm gonna translate it myself and change a couple of words here and there!
autism.
>>7379071
By that reasoning we might as well have stopped at Pope.
>tfw one of the few remaining humans not to have translated the Iliad
>>7379054
Thanks for mentioning this! The reviews look very promising, so I've ordered myself a copy.
I saw it at my parents house a while ago (The greeks have somthing to do with my father's field of study, it's not literature so I was never really sure). Not the most readable translation from what I read, and not a very good reflection of Homer's poetic achievements. Look at that first line OP quoted, that "S" sound is really fucking it up.
>Wrath, goddess, sing of Achilles Peleus's son's
>>7379096
Pope was the best translator, he even admits his translation is shit only slightly less shit then everyone else.
>>7379128
you fucked up, its only release hype.
Age of reviewers is everything is god sent untill at least a year later.
Age of critics everything is dog shit untill a few years later.
>>7379237
It is very "s"-y, yeah.
"saw off down to" is a bit awkward as well.
>>7379054
That sounds awful.
>>7379252
lol stop being dense
>>7379054
>many the valiant souls it saw off down to Hades,
That "saw off down" is a pretty weak rendering, too passive for the Greek's "set forth."
>>7379054
Can you post the comparable passages by Pope, Fitzgerald, Lattimore, Fagles etc. for comparison? Otherwise this thread is pointless
>>7379282
Stanley Lombardo
Rage:
Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades' dark,
And left their bodies to rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.
Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--
The Greek warlord--and godlike Achilles.
Alexander Pope
Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring
Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!
That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign
The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain;
Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.
Since great Achilles and Atrides strove,
Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove!
Robert Fitzgerald
Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men — carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.
Begin it when the two men first contending
broke with one another —
the Lord Marshal
Agamémnon, Atreus’ son, and Prince Akhilleus. . . .
Robert Fagles
Rage — Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles. . . .
Richmond Lattimore
Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus
and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians,
hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls
of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting
of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished
since that time when first there stood in division of conflict
Atreus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus. . . .
>>7379363
>tfw Lombardo seems the best
Does this make me a plebeian, /lit/? I really like that punchy style.
>>7379363
Needs moar.
“Achilles sing, O Goddess! Peleus’ son;
His wrath pernicious, who ten thousand woes
Caused to Achaia’s host, sent many a soul
Illustrious into Ades premature,
And Heroes gave (so stood the will of Jove)
To dogs and to all ravening fowls a prey,
When fierce dispute had separated once
The noble Chief Achilles from the son
Of Atreus, Agamemnon, King of men.”
-Translated by William Cowper, London 1791
“Achilles’ baneful wrath - resound, O goddess - that impos’d
Infinite sorrow on the Greeks, and the brave souls loos’d
From beasts heroic; sent them far, to that invisible cave*
That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave:
To all which Jove’s will give effect; from whom the first strife begun
Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis’ godlike son*”
-Translated by George Chapman, 1616
“The Rage of Achilles–sing it now, goddess, sing through me
the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief
and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters,
leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs
and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished.
Begin at the time when bitter words first divided
that king of men, Agamemnon, and godlike Achilles.”
-Translated by Stephen Mitchell
“Sing now, goddess, the wrath of Achilles the scion of Peleus,
ruinous rage which brought the Achaians uncounted afflictions;
many of the powerful souls it sent to the dwelling of Hades,
those of the heroes, and spoil for the dogs it made it their bodies,
plunder for the birds, and the purpose of Zeus was accomplished__”
-Translated by Rodney Merrill
“Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus’ son,
the accused anger which brought the Achaeans countless
agonies and hurled many mighty shades of heroes into Hades,
causing them to become the prey of dogs
and all kinds of birds; and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled.”
-Translated by Anthony Verity
“Of Peleus’ son, Achilles, sing, O Muse,
The vengeance, deep and deadly; whence to Greece
Unnumbered ills arose; which many a soul
Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades
Ultimately sent; they on the battle plain
Unburied lay, to rav'ning dogs,
And carrion birds; but had Jove decreed,”
-Translated by Edward Smith-Stanly 1862
“Sing, Goddess of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus-
that murderous anger witch condemned Achaeans
to countless agonies and threw many warrior souls
deep into Hades, leaving their dead bodies
carrion food for dogs and birds-
all in the fulfillment of the will of Zeus”
- Translated by Professor Ian Johnston, British Columbia 2006
“The rage, sing O goddess, of Achilles, son of Peleus,
The destructive anger that brought ten-thousand pains to the
Achaeans and sent many brave souls of fighting men to the house
of Hades and made their bodies a feast for dogs
and all kinds of birds. For such was the will of Zeus.”
- Translated by Barry B. Powell
>>7379384
Pope is barely a translation, more of a remake.
Fitzgerald is a clusterfuck..."undergloom"? What is this, dungeons & dragons? Also "prince" for Achilles is a completely wrong translation.
Fagles is pretty good tbqh, I don't like that he substitutes "death" for "Hades", and "brilliant", while better than "prince", is still off.
Lattimore is right out for using a word like "multitudes", I don't know what he was thinking.
So yes, Lombardo rules.
>>7379394
Lombardo's is a remake too though, right? From what I've read it's one of the more free translations out there.
I'm reading Pope's now and, questions of accuracy aside, it's an incredible poem.
>>7379363
Fagles literally blows everyone out of the water with the intro the beginning. It's gets worse further in though.
>>7379363
Illiad in English sounds fucking ugly, it must be sad to know only language so unsuited to it's metric scheme. Slavic translations managed to catch the rhythm perfectly, so if you know Russian or Slovenian (other slavics are pleb-tier), try them.
I'm curious if anyone knows how the translations to modern Greek are...
>>7379393
The Mitchell looked interesting, turns out it's abridged. Who the hell translates the Iliad and can't be bothered to do the whole thing?
>>7379458
Looks like he identified some of it as interpolated, or maybe badly interpolated, and so left those parts out. Personally I'd still have translated the whole thing and just mark the suspicious sections.
>>7379394
>Lattimore is right out for using a word like "multitudes", I don't know what he was thinking.
Looking at the Greek, I take it that he was thinking, "I'm going to translate this word that means 'many' into 'mulitudes' since that's what it means."
>>7379428
>Oooof. Is that some kind of super-literal translation?
Was just looking at the Greek, and it seems like it.
>Not sure if rusing, but poetry is about sound, rhythm, emotion. Different translations do this differently, with greater or lesser success.
Well, also accuracy.
>>7379458
Mitchell does that almost all the time with the texts he translates (his version of Genesis, his version of Job, his take on harmonizing the Gospels, etc. etc.).
Sometimes his renderings are cool, but he's a shit translator.
>>7379435
Lowlife lazy Slovenian detected
>>7379557
I have at least enough money to afford to be lazy. Also hexameter translates beautifully to slovene.
>>7379572
>Also hexameter translates beautifully to slovene.
epic dude
>>7379273
"set forth" is English.
>>7379577
Sorry but Slavic languages are just superior to English in terms of poetry
>>7379579
