Robert Fagles
Of course, such an ancient text has been adapted in many forms many times in order to ensure its longevity, but the translation that An Iliad is based on is that of Robert Fagles, an American academic who taught at Princeton. His 1990 translation is considered to be more novelistic and writerly and less devoted to the meter of previous translations; it is a really accessible translation that is really exciting, vivid, rapid and clear. He uses a five-beat line (instead of the six beat dactylic hexameter) that, according to an article in the New Yorker, "sometimes feels like stacked prose." However, he did take some liberties with the poetry by blending the long heroic similes and changing the purpose of the epithets, which are the descriptive adjectives like swift-footed, to address the narrative rather than being a defining trait if not part of the name in the original. If you're interested in seeing some of the difference in translation, the Wikipedia page on English translations offers the first line's translation. Fagles began with "Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles/murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses," whereas Alexander Pope began "Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring/Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!" in 1715; there are multiple subtle differences that have a major impact on the story, focus, meaning, and sound. |
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