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Overview
"Written by the Roman poet Virgil more than two thousand years ago, the story of Aeneas' seven-year journey from the ruins of Troy to Italy, where he becomes the founding ancestor of Rome, is a narrative on an epic scale: Aeneas and his companions contend not only with human enemies but with the whim of the gods. His destiny preordained by Jupiter, Aeneas is nevertheless assailed by dangers invoked by the goddess Juno, and by the torments of love, loyalty, and despair. Virgil's supreme achievement is not only to reveal Rome's imperial future for his patron Augustus, but to invest it with both passion and suffering for all those caught up in the fates of others." Frederick Ahl's new translation captures the excitement, poetic energy, and intellectual force of the original in a way that has never been done before. Echoing the Virgilian hexameter the verse stays almost line for line with the original in an accurate style.A guide to reading "The Aeneid" with a critical and appreciative mind encouraging analysis of plot, style, form, and structure. Also includes background on the author's life, and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.
Synopsis
"A brilliant translation; the only one since Dryden which reads like English verse and conveys some of the majesty and pathos of the original."—Bernard M. W. Knox
"Mandelbaum has . . . given us a contemporary experience of the masterpiece, at last."—David Ignatow
"The book has a wonderful, detailed liveliness in every line."—Robert Fagles
"Comes closer to the impossible goal of perfection than any of the numerous efforts that have poured out of American and British presses since World War II."—William S. Anderson
Bernard M. W. Knox
A brilliant translation; the only one since Dryden which reads like English verse and conveys some of the majesty and pathos of the original.
Editorials
Erich Segal
Allen Mandelbaum has produced a living Aeneid, a version that is unmistakably poetry." -- The New York Times Book ReviewBernard M. W. Knox
A brilliant translation; the only one since Dryden which reads like English verse and conveys some of the majesty and pathos of the original.David Ignatow
Mandelbaum has... given us a contemporary experience of the masterpiece, at last.The New Yorker
Fagles's new version of Virgil's epic delicately melds the stately rhythms of the original to a contemporary cadence. . . . He illuminates the poem's Homeric echoes while remaining faithful to Virgil's distinctive voice.The New York Times Book Review
A new and noble standard bearer . . . There's a capriciousness to Fagles's line well suited to this vast story's ebb and flow.Library Journal
Ahl (classics & comparative literature, Cornell Univ.) has previously published translations of Seneca's and Lucan's works and has written books on Sophocles, Lucan, and Ovid. His new translation of this great Latin classic, Virgil's tale of Aeneas's seven-year journey from Troy to Italy, joins recent efforts by Stanley Lombardo (Hackett, 2005) and Robert Fagles (Penguin, 2006). Here, Ahl employs a version of Virgil's hexameter verse, in which the first syllable is accented. Unlike previous translators, he tries to capture some of Virgil's wordplay, puns, and anagrams, aiming to remain true to the original Latin. The overall results are accurate but not as fluent or vigorous as the translations by Lombardo and Fagles. While those translations remain the first choice for general readers interested mainly in The Aeneid's narrative aspects, Ahl's translation is good for those wanting a fuller sense of Virgil's language and poetic artistry. In addition to an indexed glossary of names, Ahl includes notes explaining references; classicist Elaine Fantham offers a substantial introduction discussing Virgil, Aeneas, and The Aeneid. Recommended for all public and academic libraries.
—T.L. Cooksey