Best Medieval Poetry
Comprised of three books - Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso - Dante's Divine Comedy follows Dante Alighieri's epic poems follows Dante through the different sections of the afterlife; hell, purgatory, and heaven. Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321) was an Italian poet, writer, and political thinker.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm happy to report that Clive James has made even this abstract exploration of light and doctrine (and, I might add, occasionally smug self-righteousness on Dante's part) a fascinating journey. James has chosen an unusual verse form - quatrains, with an abab rhyme scheme - to translate this, but it works well: it moves quickly and smoothly, each line pulling you forward to the next. For example, the "one who made the great refusal" is identified in the verse as Pope Celestine: if you have to pick one among many, that IS the closest to a scholarly consensus; but purists would argue against closing off other possibilities."
"One of the best; I always enjoyed reading it; over and over."
"I wish the verses were numbered as well, but with the Kindle you can search by word and the results give you ample clues as to which canto the word on which the search was performed is located."
"His style is both poetic and dramatic, and while he strives to make the text accessible to a modern reader, he does not make the mistake of cheapening the genius of Dante by making a "modern" translation. And, of course, all the various characters and personalities that Dante encounters in his journey toward and into Heaven are explained (if the reader does not have an extremely solid grasp of Medieval European politics (and how many of us do?"
"I read a different version that had extensive use of very fancy words which made keeping up with the story line a bit difficult."
"But while the architecture of the work was amazing, line by line it was often a hard slog."
"I bought these 3 volumes for a course, which was then postponed indefinitely."
"I buy these books for the cover--the goal is to have all of them--exquisite cloth bound covers by Coralie Bickford Smith--she was featured years ago in Fine Books and her books are worth collecting."
"The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a Modern English translation that would do them justice. Jackson Crawford earned his Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There's a difference... actually, there's an abyss between a translation and a true, high quality social localization."
"Translations of the Edda have a high barrier to entry--they have to presuppose knowledge that casual readers generally neither have nor want, and the language tends to be difficult."
"One of the best translations I've seen."
"Very well written new translation of the Poetic Edda: Scholarly yet approachable for the layman."
"This is a beautiful translation and interpretation of the Poetic Edda."
"Great translation, I'd recommend to anyone interested in the subject matter."
"Clear, easily readable texts; good background and notes; works well as an introductory text for Norse mythology to undergraduates."
"What a great conversational style of writing, as conversational as a translation of ancient texts can get."
Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, The Prose Edda is the source of most of what we know of Norse mythology. He is the translator of The Saga of the Volsungs and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki for Penguin Classics.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very good interpretation, very interesting!!"
"The book arrived promptly and in perfect condition."
"A copy with black lines along the outer edge, which the publisher would have discarded."
"The publication provides a good introduction to understanding Norse Mythology which is a quite complex subject."
"An easy to read translation of these beautiful old classics, with plenty of explanation for those new to Norse storytelling."
Best Ancient & Classical Poetry
A lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s “nimble gallop” and brings an ancient epic to new life. “A staggeringly superior translation―true, poetic, lively and readable, and always closely engaged with the original Greek―that brings to life the fascinating variety of voices in Homer’s great epic.”. - Richard F. Thomas, Harvard University. “Emily Wilson has produced a clear, vigorous, sensitive Odyssey that conveys both the grand scale and the individual pathos of this foundational story. Emily Wilson has convincingly answered this call: hers is a vital Odyssey for the twenty-first century that brings into rhythmic English the power, dignity, variety, and immediacy of this great poem.”. - Laura Slatkin, New York University.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"More than in other translations, the Odyssey comes across here strongly as a historical document, the product of a culture from a particular time and place. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost. when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, and where he went, and who he met, the pain. he suffered in the storms at sea, and how. he worked to save his life and bring his men. back home. Compare Wilson's language with that of the opening of Robert Fitzgerald's translation: "Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story. of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold. on the proud height of Troy. He saw the townlands. and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days. in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only. to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. Fitzgerald translates it as "skilled in all ways of contending," and Fagles as "the man of twists and turns.""
"I have read and taught the Odyssey at least five times over the past twenty years. And Emily Wilson's version is a godsend."
"The first stanzas will make you perk up and realize that this is the most interesting translation of the Odyssey for our time."
"but at age 81 I consider The Odyssey the greatest book I have ever read, for itself and for its influence on my ways of thinking and of living. The main reason is that, in comparison to the others, it is best at creating the mood of an ancient, epic, poem. I love it when he repeats, for the nth time, "Son of Laertes and the Gods of old, Odysseus, master of land ways and sea ways..." and other such formulaic hints that we are not reading a James Bond or even a Scott Fitzgerald, nor Salinger, nor McEwan, nor certainly a Hemingway novel -- the content should perhaps be enough to distinguish Odyssey as the great epic it is, but I like the complementing embellishments of Fitzgerald's version. For a more important difference, compare the climax, as Odysseus is about to slaughter the suitors: Fitzgerald has him say: "You yellow dogs, you thought I'd never make it. home from the land of Troy. But Fitzgerald focuses on breaking the rules, on disrespecting the mores of their time: the suitors were contemptuous of both the gods, and the opinions of their fellow men."
"I was struck by how this version lays out the moral ambiguity of Odysseus, the haplessness of Telemachus, the decadence of the suitors and the extreme violence of the conclusion (Peckinpah came to mind as I read)."
"The introduction was informative, the translation compellingly lyrical."