![]() I also wanted the English to sound as lyrical, rolling, and graceful as the Greek, so I alliterated wherever I could without making it sound too cute. Rather my goal is for it to sound epic, to have an epic beat. It would be impossible to put the same words in the same metrical positions in the English and the Greek - my goal is not to preserve Homer's decisions about which words to place at the end of a spondaic line. Apart from a few lines which begin with inserted weak beats, all my strong beats are exactly where Homer's long syllables are, and my weak beats are where Homer's short syllables are. English meter, of course, is not based on syllable length, but on stress, and thus my translation makes long syllables in Homer into stressed beats, and short syllables into weak beats. The focus of my translation is the particular rhythm of dactylic hexameter. ![]() ![]() I chose this passage because it is very beautiful Greek, and I felt that the more beautiful the passage was to begin with, the more beautiful I could make the English. ![]() ![]() It comes just after the Trojans have pushed the battle right up to ships of the Achaeans, and they are settling in for the night, excited that things are going so well. This passage of the Iliad is the final thirteen lines of book eight. Translation of Iliad 8.553-565 Translation of Iliad 8.553-565 ![]()
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