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Summary: Behold, the Bard!
Review: Everything you have heard about the importance of Homer to all of subsequent western thought.....IT'S ALL TRUE! Homer is the very foundation upon which everything else in western philosophy and literature rests. While it is impossible to capture the rhythm of Dactyllic Hexameter in English, Lattimore's translation is nothing short of profound. Let me make a suggestion to anyone who is interested in reading Homer, but is not well versed in Greek mythology. Before beginning the ILIAD, consult a good reference guide that will give you all of the "background" information on this work (such as the judgment of Paris, the abduction (?) of Helen, etc). The ILIAD begins in medias res, (in the middle of things) and provides no background info whatsoever. Journey back to 1,200 BC to the ninth year of the Trojan War...join the millions of readers throughout history who have lent their imaginations to the ancient bard Homer & have come to understand the wrath of Achilles.... an anger that is by one account rather childish, but on another so very human. Read Homer, if at all possible. If it is not possible for you to read Homer, then by all means MAKE IT POSSIBLE! This book is that important.
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Summary: Lattimore's Triumph
Review: Few translators have had the success that Richmond Lattimore has when it comes to THE ILIAD. I would be hard pressed to find a better translation since others are either too literal to be poetic or too liberal to be faithful to Homer's story. Alexander Pope's is, of course, one of the greatest, but you have to go back 250 years to find one as enduring as Lattimore's.
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Summary: A noble effort...
Review: For Homer to take his place among our classics it must be the case that a rendering could exercise the same spell over the collective ear as English-language poets. You could not memorize Fagles, or Lattimore - or Hobbes, a few phrases apart - while Pope, even at his least Homeric, is memorable.Lattimore: The day that orphans a youngster cuts him off from friends.
And he hangs his head low, humiliated in every way. . .
his cheeks streaked with tears, and pressed by hunger
the boy goes up to his father's old companions,
tugging at one man's cloak, another's tunic,
and some will pity him, true,
and one will give him a little cup to drink,
enough to wet his lips, not quench his thirst.
But then some bully with both his parents living,
beats him from the banquet, fists and abuses flying,
'You, get out - you've got no father feasting with us here!'
And the boy, sobbing, trails home to his widowed mother. . .
Astyanax! Pope: The Day, that to the Shades the Father sends,
Robs the sad Orphan of his Father's Friends:
He, wretched Outcast of Mankind! appears
For ever sad, for ever bath'd in Tears;
Amongst the Happy, unregarded he,
Hangs on the Robe, or trembles at the Knee,
While those his Father's former bounty fed,
Nor reach the Goblet, nor divide the Bread:
The Kindest but his present Wants allay,
To leave him wretched the succeeding Day.
Frugal Compassion! Heedless they who boast
Both Parents still, nor feel what he has lost,
Shall cry, 'Begone! Thy Father feasts not here':
The Wretch obeys, retiring with a Tear.
Thus wretched, thus retiring all in Tears,
To my sad soul Astyanax appears! You decide.
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Summary: An Out-Dated Translation... Buy Fagles's Instead!
Review: For years, the most recommended translation of Homer's Iliad was Lattimore's Iliad. But times have changed. I was forced to read Lattimore's edition in Mr. Hickett's 10th grade English class. It was the most painful experience of my life. The text was so dull and highfalutin. Plus, Lattimore's translation consists of an "introduction" that's geared more towards scholars and students of the Greek than everyday folk. And his glossary, a necessary reference for anyone unfamiliar with classical mythology, is quite whimpy. The finest translation for the modern layman is Robert Fagles's Iliad. This is the translation I've read in college and have since become a Classical Studies major. (Take that Rickett!) It has an execellent introduction. It includes an outstanding array of maps, a genealogy of the House of Troy, helpfull notes, a great glossary, and even suggestions for further reading! But the best part is simply Fagles' translation. Fagles brings Homer to life, makes him exciting, and returns greatness to the legendary story of the rage Achilles. Shun Lattimore; buy Fagles.
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Summary: The Lattimore translation is wonderful.
Review: Having read both the Pope translation and the Lattimore translation of the Iliad, I really found the Lattimore one to be preferable. Trying to keep the rhyme and meter of the original poetry sounds forced. English and Ancient Greek are really too dissimilar to attempt such a thing.
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Summary: Beauty in Sadness
Review: Homer opens this work, and perhaps all of Western literary history, with an appeal for help and a clearly defined thesis. He asks a muse to help him relate the story of the rage of Achilles. Forgive me for uninvitedly calling Homer's own description of the work lacking. The richness of questions brought up in this work will be apparent to anybody on a first reading. The central preoccupations of the work go beyond the anger of a single man - spanning from the finitude of human existence to the sociopolitical duties of a citizen. It is awe-inspiring that a work written so long ago can strike such a powerful chord in so many of us. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that this is a work of art, and, as a consequence, Homer strives to describe and to make us all too painfully aware of the basics of life. We are asked to reflect on not only the standard issues of family and friends, but on our roots, on our attachment to the land, and on our birth and death. Of course, not every squabble of the Gods or cataloguing of the ships strike us as particularly intriguing. Yet in every delightful passage where Homer taunts his genius by pretending to keep substantial issues at bay, proviking issues are to be found. Unsurprisingly, Homer offers us little in the means of answers for the question as to how we are to deal with the profound circumstances that surround us as humans. His use of the "divine" in controlling human affairs may sound too much like an awkwardly familiar tone of existential resignation. For those seeking "answers in life," whatever that may mean, the Illiad is not a bad starting point. We have much in common with Achilles - knowledgable about our own mortality, yet all to eager to presume otherwise. We also sympathize with Hector and the Greek soldiers - it is for the soap operas of the rich and powerful that too many of us shed blood. The striking beauty and emotive appeal of this work cannot be classified as uplifting. Yet the subtlety and craftiness of the spark of joy to be found in our peculiar human condition to which Homer speaks should be ample answer for any reader as to why the Illiad has survived for so long.
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Summary: Subtle
Review: How to review a book that is truly a masterpiece of all times? From grandiose to subtle, from details to eternal truths, not to mention the beautiful Icelandic-style kennings - the archaic landscape comes to live, anyone who has sailed in those waters will feel taken back out there when reading this text. It has been suspected that the abduction of Helen can not have been the real reason for the war, but when reading the Iliad and the Odyssey a culture is painted, in which hospitality to guests was sacred. Alexandros (Paris) didn't just abduct Helen, he did it after having been received as a guest, which is an outrageous act. His act would have threatened the whole order of the society if it had not been punished. The author in fact explores two possible outcomes in the Iliad - an honorable duel, and the war that otherwise would result. All this set in the scene of another conflict, a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilleus. Don't believe those who say this is a boring book - it is anything but boring!
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Summary: An Outstanding Translation
Review: I am happy to see that this translation of The Iliad of Homer has remained in print. My copy is over 25 years old and I still regard it as my favorite. Mr. Lattimore has sought to preserve the meaning of the Greek words and the didactic hexameter rhythm, including the additional phrases (such as the warlike, breaker of horses etc.) that make the Iliad poetry to be recited, not read. I like the flow of the words and their cadence, and sometimes read aloud. Also of importance is the introduction to the Iliad by Mr. Lattimore where he provides an analysis of the poem, the Iliad in the context of the story of Troy, the unity of the poem and the figures that populate this heroic tale. This book is not only an outstanding translation but is also a resource for understanding the Iliad. Many scholars have regarded Lattimore's as the finest translation of the Iliad and I think that time has proved this to be an accurate prediction.
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Summary: This book changed my major and made me a classicist.
Review: I found Latimore's language so powerful and evocative of Homer's world that I decided to study Ancient Greek. His insights were so keenly borne out in my experience of studying Greek that I became a college Classics Major the following year. He is meticulous in translating the same phrase the same way each time he meets it in the text and so the haunting echoes of previous uses resound in your ear like music.
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Summary: Impressive and strangely relaxing
Review: I had to read The Iliad for a class, and I honestly dreaded it. I was worried that it would be boring and impossible to read. The Lattimore translation was neither. It managed to be easy to read with enough notes to cover important things that you needed to know. It still probably isn't a book I would just pick up off the shelf and read again, but if you have to read the book, get this translation.
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