The Iliad (Penguin Classic)

Author: Homer (Translated by Rieu)

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $14.99 AUD
  • : 9780140447941
  • : Penguin Books, Limited
  • : Penguin Books, Limited
  • :
  • : 0.383
  • : September 2002
  • : 198mm X 129mm X 23mm
  • :
  • : 17.99
  • : April 2003
  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Homer (Translated by Rieu)
  • : Penguin Classics Ser.
  • : Paperback
  • : 3
  • :
  • : English
  • : 883/.01
  • : very good
  • : 2003277884
  • : 560
  • : DCF
  • : notes, maps, glossary, index
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
Barcode 9780140447941
9780140447941

Description

An accessible Iliad for twenty-first-century readers A classic of Western literature for three millennia, Homer's Iliad captivates modern readers--as it did ancient listeners--with its tale of gods and warriors at the siege of Troy. Now Herbert Jordan's line-for-line translation brilliantly renders the original Greek into English blank verse--the poetic form most closely resembling our spoken language. Raising the bar set by Richmond Lattimore in 1951, Jordan employs a pleasing five-beat meter and avoids unnecessary filler. Whereas other verse renditions are longer than the original, owing to the translators' indulgence in personal poetics, Jordan avoids "line inflation." The result, an economical translation, captures the force and vigor of the original poem. E. Christian Kopff's introduction to this volume sets the stage and credits Jordan with conveying the action and movement of the Iliad in "contemporary language and a supple verse." This new Iliad offers twenty-first-century readers the thrill of a timeless epic and affords instructors a much-needed alternative for literature surveys.

Author description

Homer is thought to have lived c.750-700 BC in Ionia and is believed to be the author of the earliest works of Western Literature: The Odyssey and The Iliad.

E V Rieu was a celebrated translator from Latin and Greek, and editor of Penguin Classics from 1944-64. His son, D C H Rieu, has revised his work. Edited by Peter Jones who is a former lecturer in Classics at Newcastle. He co-founded the 'Friends of Classics' society and is the editor of their journal and a columnist for The Spectator.