The Odyssey of Homer

The Odyssey of Homer

As one that for a weary space has lain Lulled by the song of Circe and her wine In gardens near the pale of Proserpine, Where that an isle forgets the main, And only the low lutes of love complain, And only shadows of wan lovers pine, As such an one were glad to know the brine Salt on his lips, and the large air again, So gladly, from the songs of modern speech Men turn, and see the stars, and feel the free Shrill wind beyond the close of heavy flowers, And through the music of the languid hours They hear like Ocean on a western beach The surge and thunder of the Odyssey. There would have been less controversy about the proper method of Homeric translation, if critics had recognised that the question is a purely relative one, that of Homer there can be no final translation. The taste and the literary habits of each age demand different qualities in poetry, and therefore a different sort of rendering of Homer. To the men of the time of Elizabeth, Homer would have appeared bald, it seems, and lacking in ingenuity, if he had been presented in his antique simplicity. For the Elizabethan age, Chapman supplied what was then necessary, and the mannerisms that were then deemed of the essence of poetry, namely, daring and luxurious conceits. Thus in Chapmans verse Troy must shed her towers for tears of overthrow, and when the winds toss Odysseus about, their sport must be called the horrid tennis. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 1728
Author: Homer, 750? BCE-650? BCE
Release Date: Apr 1, 1999
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Translator: Butcher, S. H. (Samuel Henry), 1850-1910, Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912