Mike’s Reviews > Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey > Status Update

The first 3rd of The Odyssey was slow. Once Odysseus started telling his backstory of how he came to be stranded with Calypso it became more entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the Trojan Horse backstory, where Odysseus had himself whipped and beaten beyond recognition to sneak into Troy pretending to be a Trojan.

Finished The Iliad. I LOVE W. H. D. Rouse's translation. Previous versions I have read explained the physical action. It was interesting at moments but did not hold my attention. The action in the Rouse translation is soaked in passion, blood, and poetry. It stuck with me throughout the day. It got existential when Achilles returned to the battle. I loved it. :-)

"The two then rushed at one another with loud cries like eagle-beaked crooked taloned vultures that scream and tear one another in some high mountain fastness"

"The Trojans had gathered round Odysseus like ravenous mountain jackals round the carcass of some horned stag that had been hit with an arrow"

I am loving this visceral poetry.

This translation is so freaking intense. There are many more bashing of brains, spurts of blood, and men realizing they shall be dead in minutes than other translations I've read. Thank god I'm alive in 2017 CE rather than 1200 BCE.

Better translation than the Samuel Butler translation I own.

For Example:

Butler version: "you drunkard, you dog"

Rouse version: "you drunkard, with eyes of a bitch and a heart of a fawn"

Rouse puts the passion back in the poetry.