Ancient & Classical Poetry
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Overview
Best remembered for his unfinished epic, the Aeneid, the poet Vergil was celebrated in his time both for the perfection of his art and for the centrality of his ideas to Roman culture. The Eclogues, his earliest confirmed work, were composed in part out of political considerations: when the Roman authorities threatened to seize his family's land, Vergil's appeal in the form of Eclogue IX won a stay. Eclogue I appears to be a thank-you for that favor. Barbara Hughes Fowler provides scholars and students with a new American verse translation of Vergil's Eclogues. An accomplished translator, Fowler renders the poet's words into an English that is contemporary while remaining close to the spirit of the original. In an introduction to the text, she compares the treatment of the pastoral form by Vergil and Theocritus, illuminating the ways in which Vergil borrowed from and built upon the earlier poet's work, and thereby moved the genre in a new direction.Editorials
Library Journal
Vergil's Eclogues, the earliest works of the great Roman poet, have long been a favorite of translators and imitators. Ostensibly the songs of Arcadian shepherds, they celebrate love, nature, and rural life as well as more elevated topics. This new translation by poet Fowler (classics, emerita, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) joins the modern versions by C. Day Lewis and Guy Lee. Fowler's verse translations are fluent if not always literal, using idiomatic American English that avoids some of the stilted style of Day Lewis. Her textual notes identify names and major allusions. Although regrettably the Latin original is not included, Fowler's version is a pleasure to read.Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.From the Publisher
A handsomely produced poetry book, and in general the verse reads quite well.Choice
A remarkable translation of an important text. Immediate, relaxed, and close to the spirit of the original.
Eugene W. Bushala, Boston College
Book Details
Published
November 9, 2000
Publisher
Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, c1997.
Pages
65
ISBN
9780807861547