Customer Reviews

Horace, The Odes: New Translations by Contemporary Poets (Facing Pages)

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This is one of the finest translations of Horace ever compiled, all done by modern poets. Each translation seem done with care, more for the spirit of the poem than its transliterative meaning. The method of approaching Horace, by distributing the odes among some forty poets, keeps the timeless beauty of his poetry fresh. This is also a bilingual edition of Horace, which is an indispensable condition. Harold Bloom concurs that this is the best English translation of Horace's Odes.

Kenneth Quinn's edition of Horace's odes is the best edition and commentary in print aimed at undergraduate-level classes. I have taught it myself a number of times over the years and have found it perfectly acceptable. What I want to protest is Amazon's habit of pasting faulty information onto its books' websites. For instance, when one clicks on Quinn's edition of Horace, one gets a web-page that offers a bit of the translation of the first ode, some "editorial reviews," and one reader review---all of which refer not to Quinn's edition and commentary but to J.D. McClatchy's "Horace: The Odes: New Translations of Contemporary Poets." I have often noticed that when one clicks on a particular translation of, say, Homer or Vergil, the Amazon site will shower one with blurbs and reader reviews of some *other* translation, a fact that can easily confuse the unwary. In this case, a prospective reader who wants to know more about a particular edition (i.e. Latin text, with no translation) and commentary of Horace is being treated to all sorts of information about a very different bird entitely: a *translation* of the odes. This is getting silly. Please fix this, Amazon!

If you love poetry, treat yourself to this spelendid collection. Horace's Latin is too difficult for most of us whose high school education is distant. These translations are never less than readable and often beautiful. This may be a book that reminds us of why Horace has been read and loved for two thousand years.

This collection of creative translations by some of the best of contempory poets is marvellous. For those of us who are somewhat Latin-challenged, the Latin on facing pages is very helpful.