Tag Archives: Emily Wilson

On the Odyssey, Book I

November 9, 2019 – 7:25 am

  • In reading his rendition of the Iliad, having enjoyed hearing Chapman speak out loud and bold;

  • having enjoyed writing here about each book, particularly the last ten books in ten days on an Aegean beach in September of this year (2019);

  • having taken the name of this blog from the first line of the Odyssey;

  • having obtained, from Homer Books here in Istanbul, Emily Wilson’s recent translation (New York: Norton, 2018);

    • Book on table, Wilson's Odyssey Continue reading →

By David Pierce | Posted in Collingwood, Homer | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (7)

On Translation

October 6, 2019 – 8:28 am

Achilles is found singing to a lyre, in a passage of Book IX of the Iliad. Homer sets the scene in five dactylic hexameters; George Chapman translates them into four couplets of fourteeners.

I wrote a post about each book of the Iliad, in Chapman’s version of 1611. As I said at the end, I look forward to reading Emily Wilson’s version. Meanwhile, here I examine the vignette of the lyre in several existing English translations, as well as in the original.

Three books mentioned in the text Continue reading →

By David Pierce | Posted in Collingwood, Homer, Language, Plato | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (8)

On Chapman’s Homer’s Iliad, Book XXIV

September 26, 2019 – 8:26 am

One man kills another, legally, according to the laws of war, such as they are. The two sides fight over the body, which might be ransomed, if taken by the killer’s side; however, the body is not so taken. The friend of the slain man kills the killer and takes his body to mutilate, though this be sacrilege.

The father of the newly slain man crosses enemy lines to ransom his son’s body. He puts his lips to the hand of the killer, who agrees to give up the body, even coming to admire the father, who in turn admires him.

Woman with arms outstretched, left hand with palm up, right hand grasping a dagger pointed towards her breast

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-69)
Lucretia, 1664, oil on canvas
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Continue reading →

By David Pierce | Posted in Homer | Also tagged , , | Comments (6)