![]() ![]() Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, ![]() Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turnsĭriven time and again off course, once he had plundered Had reached their homes at last, delivered Judge for yourself if you think it works: To achieve the kind of speed that Bates felt was characteristic of the original, he used a verse form that is not what most think of when they think of long narrative poetry. The English language seems best suited to iambs. (Think of the opening of Longfellow's Evangeline-and if Longfellow was anything, he was a highly skilled versifier). ![]() Classical Greek is lighter and the way the accents fall permit great speed of line, whereas in English the initial stress followed by two weak syllables is plodding in comparison. To most, that makes it NOT a "faithful" translation.īut as Bates pointed out in his introduction, Homer's dactylic hexameters make for heavy lines in English. The other reason is that it is versified in iambic tetrameter (horrors! not even good English iambic pentameter, let alone Homer's "rolling" hexameters). It is unfortunately abridged that is one of the reasons it isn't seriously considered today. To comment further, especially in light of my third criteria above, I have to say that the version of The Odyssey I find most pleasurable to read is one that is flatly rejected by most scholars and critics today, Herbert Bates' school edition in verse. ![]()
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