I laughed at your quip about how you used to wish Virgil had gotten his dying wish regarding the Aeneid being burned. I just finished a Latin course where we translated Book II in full, so I feel your pain. I disliked studying Wheelock's Latin throughout its ~40 chapters, but once I moved past that to The Aeneid, I immediately appreciated how simple and diverse Wheelock translations were compared to Virgil. My professor referred to Virgil as the "Shakespeare of Latin," which helped me see the poetry of his... uh, poetry. Love his account of Laöcoön and the twin serpents on the beach! Those ginormous bookstore stickers on your Aeneid might come off clean if you hold a blow dryer over them for a couple minutes and peel slowly and gently, but it can sometimes make matters worse depending on the cover material, how tenacious the adhesive is, and so on. I know booksellers need stickers for practical purposes, but I can't stand it when a handsome cover is marred by a (literally and figuratively) tacky reminder of commerce. Also, if you ever want to revive your Latin studies a bit, Duolingo has a Latin course. It's much smaller than their living language courses, so it feels more manageable. It's not Virgil, but it can help with getting your mind back in Latin mode in bite-sized doses.
I like epic poetry, too, and had come to the conclusion I was the only person on the planet who did so. It's nice to know there's at least one other person who likes epic poetry as well.. Let me make some recommendations from epics that I have read. The Epic of Gilgamesh. The PostHomerica by Quintus Smyrnea (in prose) This continues the Trojan War stories and incorporates a lot of material from the lost Epic Cycle. Beowulf. Death of Arthur The Vulgate Cycle. Petrarch's Africa El Cid Camouens Lusiads The Epic of Igor's Campaign The Epigoniad (the Seven Against Thebes) Tennyson Idylls of the King. Byron Don JUAN Kazantzakis The Odyssey, a Modern version. (I never finished this but I enjoyed what I had read. About a third the way through.) Also from India The Ramayana A dramatic version of the Mahabarata From China Hidden Dragon. Epics I'd like to read but haven't The Dionysiaca. Lucan The Civil War Ennius Tasso Epic of Kings Ferdowzi Ariosto Orlando Furioso Sir William Davenant Gondibert Richard Glover The Atheniad and Leonidas Voltaire Henry IV and The Virgin (La Pucelle--Joan of Arc) Southey (he wrote a half dozen epics) Some of Sir Walter Scot's poems are epic in scope. Melville Clarel The Dawn in England. This is getting too long so I will stop although I feel I'm forgetting something.
I will add to your list Divine comedy (Divina comedia) by Dante Alighieri Judith (Judita) by Marko Marulić Davidijada (only in latin avaliable from what I know) also by Marko Marulić The Gypsiad (Țiganiada) by Ion Budai-Deleanu Levant (Levantul) By Mircea Cărtărescu Luceafărul (The Legend of the Evening Star) by Mihai Eminescu (there is a very good translation of this in english by Adrian George Sahlean) Haestingas by James Moffett The ring of Nibelung by Richard Wagner (there is a text version by Penguin). The Song of Roland (La chanson de Roland) Sir Gewain and the Green Knight (Tolkien's translations) The Fall of Arthur by J. R. R. Tolkien
I'm currently reading 'Paradise Lost' and loving it. I'm taking my time with it, reading all the notes and explanations. This might become one of my favourite books of 2022.
I loved this video so much! We need more epic poetry in Booktube. I'm currently reading "The Lusíads", by the Portuguese author, Luís Vaz de Camões. So far, it is beautiful! Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered" is also in my reading list.
Thanks Jennifer, that was so interesting! I would love to hear more in detail about epic poetry;choosing one at a time to discuss on separate videos. Bravo! 👏🏼😀
I started reading _The Divine Comedy_ (for the first time) in February and finished it in April and I'm still thinking about it! I loved it so much and I'm sure I will be a reread for me, many times over. I have yet to read Virgil's The Aeneid or Homer, for that matter and now you've convinced me that I need to read _Paradise Lost._ And Lord Byron. And G.K. Chesterton. 😬 Thanks for sharing. ❤️
Love this video! Thanks for sharing your favorites. I finished The Iliad this year, and your channel was a big inspiration for me to read it. I’ll be continuing on with both ancient classics and more epic poetry.
This video was epic in & of itself Jennifer🤩 I read The Iliad for Ancientsathon (first ever epic/ Fagels) & though i liked & enjoyed it- i cant say that i absolutely loved it.. i do think however that F's translation was excellent especially for a beginner (names characters plot etc). I read some parts from Lattimores which was beautiful / more lyrical, but also denser (for someone new to The Greeks) to follow. *However*.. im loving The Faerie Queene & hope to complete book 1. Ovid & Dante.. eventually!🤗💞
Warning!!! 👀 I'm reading The Faerie Queene. I started it a few months ago. At the beginning I thought, that after living 40 years in USA (English is my second language) I was ready for it. Ha ha ha! Stupid me.!!! Edmund Spenser very quickly showed me, how very inadequate my English really is 😂. But I think I found the best way to tackle that BEAST - The Faerie Queene. 1st. I read Hackett Publishing version, making a lot of notes on the margins. 2nd. I listen to FQ Audiobook read by Thomas Copeland. 3rd. I read notes in The Works of Spenser (A Variorum Edition - 11 volumes) and reread one more time its FQ text. Sometimes I take a break from that amazing text by relaxing and reading: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Orlando Furioso, La Morte D'Arthur, Ovid Metamorphosis ( 1567 A. Golding tr. ), Homer etc... I think that I either fell in love with (FQ) the damn thing! Or I got some kind of psychological obsession. Give me two-three years and I will either become expert in Edmund Spenser poetry or I'll end up in mental asylum. 🤪😂
A well-timed video for me. Just dug up my trilingual edition of Iliad from the depths of my Kindle. Also took this opportunity to finally buy some Ovid.
Really enjoyed this video. I read the Aeneid and Ovid in Latin class in high school and college. For the last few months I've been thinking that I need to reread the Aeneid and the Metamorphorses. This video is real encouragement to do so. Also really need to read the Divine Comedy.
I highly recommend reading The Lusiads, by Luis Vaz De Camões, translated in rimed verses by Richard Francis Burton. The poem was first published in 1572, and is one of the greatest epic poems of the Renaissance - considered the greatest ever written in Portuguese. The poem narrates the Age of Discovery of the 15h century, and the Portuguese navigation across the globe. There is an e-book published by Delphi Classics with the collected works of Camões including a bilingual version and an additional translation of the epic poem, there's also a collection of lyric sonnets which are also masterful. Your list is superb, and I'm sure The Lusiads will be a great addition to it!
I did Aeneid Book IV and VI for my Latin A-Level and I really enjoyed that. I've skim read the rest, but it is on my Ridiculous Reading List. But I've got Ancient Egypt and Greece to get through first. Can I also recommend a modern poem that might fit the bill: David Jones's 'In Parenthesis', which is his World War One allegory heavy long poem. It's beautifully written, incredibly moving, and weaves Arthurian myth, Romance poetry and Welsh myth into a poem about ordinary soldiers from training to the Battle of Memetz Wood. A battle where a surprising number of writers and poets were involved in.
I started with this topic in May. First Iliad and Odyssey and now reading Aeneid. I like the Aeneid the most so far! Though I’m only a couple chapters in. By not knowing anything about the topics I apparently only bought prose versions… I’m a bit scared of a verse version now, but I’m gonna try it next anyway! Thinking of metamorphoses or Dantes inferno :)
I’m not quite as well-read in the classics as you are, but a few epics that I’ve enjoyed so far have been Walt Whitman’s _Song_ _of_ _Myself_ as well as José Hernández’ _El_ _Gaucho_ _Martín_ _Fierro_ and Hawaii’s _The_ _Kumulipo_ just to name a few that have really stood out to me. Although, a bit of a heads up for _The_ _Kumulipo_ should you ever decide to give it a read, there are some pretty lengthy (and frankly unbearable) sections where it will just list pairs of names, and it goes on like that for about 1,100 lines with a few breaks in between. Still, a very interesting cultural epic, though I’m certain it’s better when heard in it’s original sung form.
The Aeneid is my favourite of the 3 poems covering the Trojan War. I love the writing. Currently reading Shadi Bartsch's translation which is just fantastic. I also agree with you that the Trojan bits are better. Book 2 is my favourite. I couldn't get through the Iliad but I do think it's a better story than The Odyssey (though not as easy to read!). My favourite epic poem however has to be Beowulf and Seamus Heaneys translation. I couldn't put it down!
My favorite epic is probably Beowulf. It feels so familiar and yet so strange (possibly because of my love of J R R Tolkien). I am drawn by so much of the mystery of the poem and I just love alliteration
I love the Iliad, especially the Richmond Lattimore version. The scene between Achilles and Hector still makes me catch my breath. Top tip. Don't recite this on a bus. I did this with the Pope version and was seen as the bus nutter.
Thanks for this video! I am reading The Aeneid for Ancientsathon. I am liking it very much so far. Reading Byron while listening to My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy: 🤣.
THE ARGONAUTICA One book I forgot to mention. I knew I was forgetting something and eventually remembered it was The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes. This Hellenistic epic tells the story of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. It was supposedly written around 280 B.C, I read it long ago and really wasn't very enthused about it, although almost all surviving Greek or Roman literature is pretty high quality. I googled it and found that starting in the late 70's Academic interest in this poem has revived or blossomed . Even though it is much more ancient I'd rank it below Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica or The Fall of Troy. Maybe Troy is just more interesting than Jason's adventures. BTW Jason has always truck me as the stupidest of all the Greek heroes. He cleverly seduces Medea to help him to get the Golden fleece. To help him escape her father she chops up her kid brother and throws his body parts into the sea thinking that her father who is in hot pursuit of Jason's ship will slow down to recover the parts of his son's body. She is correct and Jason and Medea escape. Years later Jason thinks he can just walk out on this lady and all she will do is cry about it. Apparently he forgot his wife was a witch and could be very ruthless when she felt it necessary. It's amazing how surprised he was when she killed their children.
@@I05-e4s Kek. Well. We are a white nationalist family so it’s pretty conservative. We don’t have much but ourselves because the world hates white people.
There are othes epic books such as la araucana de alonso de ercilla, el poema.de fernan gonzales , el pelayo de.esponceda .the messiah of klopstock. Bruce by harry the blind. Wallace .the punica by silllius .the argonautica by valeriius flaco..the achilledi by estacio. Epic genre is fantastic.
I'm so intimidated by you, this video and all those people in the comments who read epic poetry 😅 I'm really curious whether you've read anything else by Chesterton? He's left such an enormous and diverse body of work
@@jenniferbrooks I'll have to start by apologising for quite a lengthy response) I've only read one novel by him, the most famous one (he hasn't got that many of them tbh, the bulk of his oeuvre is non fiction and short stories), The Man Who Was Thursday. I've also dipped in and out of his non fiction, it's very witty and entertaining, in fact, I'd recommend starting there, just pick whatever sounds interesting (Chesterton seems to have graced us with his opinion on just about any topic), because as much as I adore this novel, I hesitate to recommend it to anyone. People seem to have extremely mixed reactions to it, as it gets weirder and weirder as it goes on) Then again, you might like it, he reminds me a lot of Dickens, hysterically funny, quite absurd at times and deeply humanistic, besides, the book is quite short and swiftly paced. One thing I can say for certain is that if you do decide to read that novel, try to avoid spoilers, its resolution is very unique
I personally think I was too young at 16, in high school to understand, appreciate and therefore like "Iliad" or "Odyssey" and they have discouraged me from going back to them ever since. Now, +20 years later i think it's a bit too late but I feel like giving it a go. surprisingly, I loved "Anthygony", (speaking of classics) though I too think plays are best for stages. But "Antigoney" had all I wanted in a book at that time: a female protagonist, some "drama"/tragedy, and it was short ^.^
I laughed at your quip about how you used to wish Virgil had gotten his dying wish regarding the Aeneid being burned. I just finished a Latin course where we translated Book II in full, so I feel your pain. I disliked studying Wheelock's Latin throughout its ~40 chapters, but once I moved past that to The Aeneid, I immediately appreciated how simple and diverse Wheelock translations were compared to Virgil. My professor referred to Virgil as the "Shakespeare of Latin," which helped me see the poetry of his... uh, poetry. Love his account of Laöcoön and the twin serpents on the beach!
Those ginormous bookstore stickers on your Aeneid might come off clean if you hold a blow dryer over them for a couple minutes and peel slowly and gently, but it can sometimes make matters worse depending on the cover material, how tenacious the adhesive is, and so on. I know booksellers need stickers for practical purposes, but I can't stand it when a handsome cover is marred by a (literally and figuratively) tacky reminder of commerce.
Also, if you ever want to revive your Latin studies a bit, Duolingo has a Latin course. It's much smaller than their living language courses, so it feels more manageable. It's not Virgil, but it can help with getting your mind back in Latin mode in bite-sized doses.
I love your channel. Thank you.
Loved this!! Please make more videos about epic poetry in the future.
I like epic poetry, too, and had come to the conclusion I was the only person on the planet who did so. It's nice to know there's at least one other person who likes epic poetry as well..
Let me make some recommendations from epics that I have read.
The Epic of Gilgamesh.
The PostHomerica by Quintus Smyrnea (in prose) This continues the Trojan War stories and incorporates a lot of material from the lost Epic Cycle.
Beowulf.
Death of Arthur The Vulgate Cycle.
Petrarch's Africa
El Cid
Camouens Lusiads
The Epic of Igor's Campaign
The Epigoniad (the Seven Against Thebes)
Tennyson Idylls of the King.
Byron Don JUAN
Kazantzakis The Odyssey, a Modern version. (I never finished this but I enjoyed what I had read. About a third the way through.)
Also from India
The Ramayana
A dramatic version of the Mahabarata
From China
Hidden Dragon.
Epics I'd like to read but haven't
The Dionysiaca.
Lucan The Civil War
Ennius
Tasso
Epic of Kings Ferdowzi
Ariosto
Orlando Furioso
Sir William Davenant Gondibert
Richard Glover The Atheniad and Leonidas
Voltaire Henry IV and The Virgin (La Pucelle--Joan of Arc)
Southey (he wrote a half dozen epics)
Some of Sir Walter Scot's poems are epic in scope.
Melville Clarel
The Dawn in England.
This is getting too long so I will stop although I feel I'm forgetting something.
Thank you for this list! So many I haven't read yet!
I will add to your list Divine comedy (Divina comedia) by Dante Alighieri
Judith (Judita) by Marko Marulić
Davidijada (only in latin avaliable from what I know) also by Marko Marulić
The Gypsiad (Țiganiada) by Ion Budai-Deleanu
Levant (Levantul) By Mircea Cărtărescu
Luceafărul (The Legend of the Evening Star) by Mihai Eminescu (there is a very good translation of this in english by Adrian George Sahlean)
Haestingas by James Moffett
The ring of Nibelung by Richard Wagner (there is a text version by Penguin).
The Song of Roland (La chanson de Roland)
Sir Gewain and the Green Knight (Tolkien's translations)
The Fall of Arthur by J. R. R. Tolkien
L'Anabase of Saint-John Perse 😎
I'm currently reading 'Paradise Lost' and loving it. I'm taking my time with it, reading all the notes and explanations. This might become one of my favourite books of 2022.
I loved this video so much! We need more epic poetry in Booktube. I'm currently reading "The Lusíads", by the Portuguese author, Luís Vaz de Camões. So far, it is beautiful! Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered" is also in my reading list.
Amen about burning it. I chuckled. 🤣
Although I felt like that translating Cicero and his neverending dependent clauses!
Thanks Jennifer, that was so interesting! I would love to hear more in detail about epic poetry;choosing one at a time to discuss on separate videos. Bravo! 👏🏼😀
Jennifer - TS Eliot said that Dante and Shakespeare divide the world there is no third . Oh yes there is ; MILTON .
I started reading _The Divine Comedy_ (for the first time) in February and finished it in April and I'm still thinking about it! I loved it so much and I'm sure I will be a reread for me, many times over. I have yet to read Virgil's The Aeneid or Homer, for that matter and now you've convinced me that I need to read _Paradise Lost._ And Lord Byron. And G.K. Chesterton. 😬 Thanks for sharing. ❤️
Love this video! Thanks for sharing your favorites. I finished The Iliad this year, and your channel was a big inspiration for me to read it. I’ll be continuing on with both ancient classics and more epic poetry.
This video was epic in & of itself Jennifer🤩 I read The Iliad for Ancientsathon (first ever epic/ Fagels) & though i liked & enjoyed it- i cant say that i absolutely loved it.. i do think however that F's translation was excellent especially for a beginner (names characters plot etc). I read some parts from Lattimores which was beautiful / more lyrical, but also denser (for someone new to The Greeks) to follow. *However*.. im loving The Faerie Queene & hope to complete book 1. Ovid & Dante.. eventually!🤗💞
I loved this video!!! Thank you so much for sharing your favorites and your reasoning behind each.
Thank you so much for this very helpful video.
So interesting! Epic poetry still kind of intimidates me but I do want to read more!
I loved this video, I love epic poetry!
Reading this translation of the Iliad right now. Fantastic Introduction, starting the actual Poem later today.
Wonderful video and wonderful selection! I'd highly recommend The Epic of Gilgamesh. I'd love to hear more about the Faerie Queen.😊🙌👏👏📚
Warning!!! 👀
I'm reading The Faerie Queene.
I started it a few months ago.
At the beginning I thought, that after living 40 years in USA (English is my second language) I was ready for it.
Ha ha ha! Stupid me.!!!
Edmund Spenser very quickly showed me, how very inadequate my English really is 😂.
But I think I found the best way to tackle that BEAST - The Faerie Queene.
1st. I read Hackett Publishing version, making a lot of notes on the margins.
2nd. I listen to FQ Audiobook read by Thomas Copeland.
3rd. I read notes in The Works of Spenser (A Variorum Edition - 11 volumes) and reread one more time its FQ text.
Sometimes I take a break from that amazing text by relaxing and reading:
Chaucer, Shakespeare, Orlando Furioso, La Morte D'Arthur, Ovid Metamorphosis ( 1567 A. Golding tr. ), Homer etc...
I think that I either fell in love with (FQ) the damn thing! Or I got some kind of psychological obsession.
Give me two-three years and I will either become expert in Edmund Spenser poetry or I'll end up in mental asylum. 🤪😂
Chesterton was a brilliant in so many ways .
A well-timed video for me. Just dug up my trilingual edition of Iliad from the depths of my Kindle. Also took this opportunity to finally buy some Ovid.
Really enjoyed this video. I read the Aeneid and Ovid in Latin class in high school and college. For the last few months I've been thinking that I need to reread the Aeneid and the Metamorphorses. This video is real encouragement to do so. Also really need to read the Divine Comedy.
I highly recommend reading The Lusiads, by Luis Vaz De Camões, translated in rimed verses by Richard Francis Burton. The poem was first published in 1572, and is one of the greatest epic poems of the Renaissance - considered the greatest ever written in Portuguese. The poem narrates the Age of Discovery of the 15h century, and the Portuguese navigation across the globe. There is an e-book published by Delphi Classics with the collected works of Camões including a bilingual version and an additional translation of the epic poem, there's also a collection of lyric sonnets which are also masterful. Your list is superb, and I'm sure The Lusiads will be a great addition to it!
I did Aeneid Book IV and VI for my Latin A-Level and I really enjoyed that. I've skim read the rest, but it is on my Ridiculous Reading List. But I've got Ancient Egypt and Greece to get through first. Can I also recommend a modern poem that might fit the bill: David Jones's 'In Parenthesis', which is his World War One allegory heavy long poem. It's beautifully written, incredibly moving, and weaves Arthurian myth, Romance poetry and Welsh myth into a poem about ordinary soldiers from training to the Battle of Memetz Wood. A battle where a surprising number of writers and poets were involved in.
I started with this topic in May. First Iliad and Odyssey and now reading Aeneid. I like the Aeneid the most so far! Though I’m only a couple chapters in.
By not knowing anything about the topics I apparently only bought prose versions… I’m a bit scared of a verse version now, but I’m gonna try it next anyway! Thinking of metamorphoses or Dantes inferno :)
I’m not quite as well-read in the classics as you are, but a few epics that I’ve enjoyed so far have been Walt Whitman’s _Song_ _of_ _Myself_ as well as José Hernández’ _El_ _Gaucho_ _Martín_ _Fierro_ and Hawaii’s _The_ _Kumulipo_ just to name a few that have really stood out to me. Although, a bit of a heads up for _The_ _Kumulipo_ should you ever decide to give it a read, there are some pretty lengthy (and frankly unbearable) sections where it will just list pairs of names, and it goes on like that for about 1,100 lines with a few breaks in between. Still, a very interesting cultural epic, though I’m certain it’s better when heard in it’s original sung form.
The Aeneid is my favourite of the 3 poems covering the Trojan War. I love the writing. Currently reading Shadi Bartsch's translation which is just fantastic. I also agree with you that the Trojan bits are better. Book 2 is my favourite. I couldn't get through the Iliad but I do think it's a better story than The Odyssey (though not as easy to read!). My favourite epic poem however has to be Beowulf and Seamus Heaneys translation. I couldn't put it down!
I wish you have mentioned Epic of Gilgamesh. It’s incredible book. I like it so much I can read over and over. Have nice reading every one, peace.
My favorite epic is probably Beowulf. It feels so familiar and yet so strange (possibly because of my love of J R R Tolkien). I am drawn by so much of the mystery of the poem and I just love alliteration
Paradise Lost was my favorite.
I've actually never heard of The Ballad of the White Horse before, but I now desperately need to read it!
I love the Iliad, especially the Richmond Lattimore version. The scene between Achilles and Hector still makes me catch my breath. Top tip. Don't recite this on a bus. I did this with the Pope version and was seen as the bus nutter.
Thanks for this video! I am reading The Aeneid for Ancientsathon. I am liking it very much so far. Reading Byron while listening to My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy: 🤣.
THE ARGONAUTICA One book I forgot to mention. I knew I was forgetting something and eventually remembered it was The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes. This Hellenistic epic tells the story of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. It was supposedly written around 280 B.C, I read it long ago and really wasn't very enthused about it, although almost all surviving Greek or Roman literature is pretty high quality. I googled it and found that starting in the late 70's Academic interest in this poem has revived or blossomed . Even though it is much more ancient I'd rank it below Quintus Smyrnaeus Posthomerica or The Fall of Troy. Maybe Troy is just more interesting than Jason's adventures. BTW Jason has always truck me as the stupidest of all the Greek heroes. He cleverly seduces Medea to help him to get the Golden fleece. To help him escape her father she chops up her kid brother and throws his body parts into the sea thinking that her father who is in hot pursuit of Jason's ship will slow down to recover the parts of his son's body. She is correct and Jason and Medea escape. Years later Jason thinks he can just walk out on this lady
and all she will do is cry about it. Apparently he forgot his wife was a witch and could be very ruthless when she felt it necessary. It's amazing how surprised he was when she killed their children.
I am reading Iliad now so will watch this video when I am finished reading it
When my kids get sassy I use “writing poetry” as their punishment. I choose one. Make them write it. Then read it.
Dostoyevsky dishing out punishment! love it! hopefully sassy is far as they go, or else you might have to keep em away from any axes.
@@I05-e4s Kek. Well. We are a white nationalist family so it’s pretty conservative. We don’t have much but ourselves because the world hates white people.
There are othes epic books such as la araucana de alonso de ercilla, el poema.de fernan gonzales , el pelayo de.esponceda .the messiah of klopstock. Bruce by harry the blind. Wallace .the punica by silllius .the argonautica by valeriius flaco..the achilledi by estacio. Epic genre is fantastic.
Love the video. I really like poetry but I admit I feel intimidated by epic poetry.
I'm so intimidated by you, this video and all those people in the comments who read epic poetry 😅
I'm really curious whether you've read anything else by Chesterton? He's left such an enormous and diverse body of work
I have not! But I've heard such wonderful things about his novels. Have you? Anything you recommend?
@@jenniferbrooks I'll have to start by apologising for quite a lengthy response)
I've only read one novel by him, the most famous one (he hasn't got that many of them tbh, the bulk of his oeuvre is non fiction and short stories), The Man Who Was Thursday. I've also dipped in and out of his non fiction, it's very witty and entertaining, in fact, I'd recommend starting there, just pick whatever sounds interesting (Chesterton seems to have graced us with his opinion on just about any topic), because as much as I adore this novel, I hesitate to recommend it to anyone. People seem to have extremely mixed reactions to it, as it gets weirder and weirder as it goes on)
Then again, you might like it, he reminds me a lot of Dickens, hysterically funny, quite absurd at times and deeply humanistic, besides, the book is quite short and swiftly paced.
One thing I can say for certain is that if you do decide to read that novel, try to avoid spoilers, its resolution is very unique
wasn't ovid metamorphoses the first book containing the greek/roman myths translated into English? that's why shakespear and others always used it?
I love the aeneid more than homer. team Camilla all the way! I also adore ovid!
I personally think I was too young at 16, in high school to understand, appreciate and therefore like "Iliad" or "Odyssey" and they have discouraged me from going back to them ever since. Now, +20 years later i think it's a bit too late but I feel like giving it a go. surprisingly, I loved "Anthygony", (speaking of classics) though I too think plays are best for stages. But "Antigoney" had all I wanted in a book at that time: a female protagonist, some "drama"/tragedy, and it was short ^.^
But why gilgamesh isn't on your list ? in chronological order gilgamesh comes first
The brilliance of making Satan sympathetic is that we the audience then participate in man’s fall from grace
No Orlando Furioso! 😰