The Iliad of Homer CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012 M10 3 - 602 pages When Alexander Pope's majestic translation of the Iliad appeared between 1715 and 1720, it was acclaimed by Samuel Johnson as "a performance which no age or nation could hope to equal." Pope himself was only 25 years old. While other translations have since claimed distinction in this or that respect, Pope's translation remains unrivaled in its melodious beauty. This is the Iliad that has formed generations of British and American culture through a beauteous poetics that lends itself to easy recollection. With a clean and crisp text illustrated by the inimitable line drawings of Flaxman, this edition finally gives to audiences a fitting rendering of this monument of English verse which captures uniquely the song of Homer himself. "The thing that best distinguishes this from all other translations of Homer is that it alone equals the original in its ceaseless pour of verbal music. . . . Pope worked miracles in highlighting the play of vowels through his lines. . . . Every word is weighted, with a pressure of mind behind it. This is a poem you can live your way into, over the years, since it yields more at every encounter." --Gary Wills "On Reading Pope's Homer" New York Times, 6/1/1997 |