The best Epic Poetry: Reddit reviews

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The John Ciardi one.

It keeps the original rhyming structure, which must have been really hard to do when translating from Italian to English. It isn't really rigid English like some of the other translations that can make your brain get tired after reading for a while. And most importantly it has notes for each chapter. Dante himself is the main character, and he writes in a bunch of actual people from in and around Italy during his lifetime, so reading the notes really helps understand a lot of the references to people/places/things in the book. I just read the notes before I read each chapter so I knew as I read it what was going on.

First off, look up the podcast Sweetbitter, because if you're interested in a book of her poetry you'd definitely be interested in a fantastic Sappho podcast.

Second, this is the copy I've had my eyes on for months. I love Anne Carson's translations, and I think there's just something significant about reading a translation done by a woman.

I really like the A. R. George edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh, although there's a recent edition by Benjamin Foster that I haven't read yet. Foster's anthologies Before the Muses and From Distant Days are some of my favorites and I reference them all the time for Akkadian mythology and poetry.

I envy anyone who was introduced to Mesopotamia in primary or second school. The curriculum at my school focused, ad nauseum, on Greece and Rome, with a little bit of Ancient Egypt thrown in for good measure. I didn't discover Mesopotamia until my brief time at college.

If there's anything about Mesopotamia that you're interested in or curious about, ask away. The community has been more active lately and we've got some good people who browse now!

Are you referring to this cover? I’m not trying to sell anything, just the first link I found with it. The way Grendel seems to be in so much internal pain sells the book. It’s a really good cover, especially compared to this. It’s the cover that my copy from high school has.

There's a really good translation available on Amazon that I read once in a library. It has the original text alongside the English translation, with extensive notes on the context of the poem and why the translator chose to translate the text the way he did.

I'm not sure if it always rhymes the same, since different translators can make different choices about how best to honor the original prose while staying true to the meaning of the text, but there are parts that do rhyme in it.

The version I'm reading now reads like the King James Bible and is hard follow at times, but it was free for my Kindle sooooo -_- So far, the poem's got a lot more depth to it than the video game did.

The Epic of Gilgamesh. This has probably been mentioned by now in the thread, but as the oldest surviving piece of human literature, you could argue that this is where it all started. I'm a fan of the Penguin Classics edition, and the epic is also obviously in public domain; here is the Project Gutenberg link.

Is it the most riveting read? Maybe not, compared to mainstream and modern novels. The Epic is still worth reading because even back when people lived in mud brick homes and the ancient equivalent of New York City was anywhere with a population of 40,000+, exploration of the human condition was still something that intrigued people.

It's a story about justice, seeking glory, friendship, mortality, and whether or not immortality is something as literal as "never dying".

Everyone should read it at least once in their lives, if not only to experience where our literary tradition as a species first began.

In Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, the title is given as "The Holy One," though I'd warn you that there's almost certainly a different academic reference title, which I do not know off the top of my head. The "you" is Inanna.

The gala are the priests to whom the OP is referring.

Yeah, thankfully the version I have is full of annotations explaining the symbolism and references.

I think this is the one I have (from Amazon). ISBN 978-0-451-20863-7

I honestly think I enjoyed Purgatorio more than Inferno, probably mostly because I love the idea of redemption and purification and the imagery of angels.

As long as we are talking about The Silmarillion, I want to give a plug for its editor (alongside Christopher Tolkien) Guy Gavriel Kay.

Kay is a tremendous writer in his own right. His general pattern is to take historical settings and add a dash of magic (sometimes very light, occasionally heavy) and then turn that into a fictional world. My favorite is The Lions of Al-Rassan, based on Moorish Spain at the time of the reconquest, with a female Jewish protagonist.

He’s prolific though, and his book set in Renaissance Italy is a favorite as well. Check him out if you are looking for new fantasy authors.

My favorite book is If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho which is a collection of Sappho poems translated by Anne Carson! For anyone who is interested, Anne Carson translates Sappho beautifully Amazon Link Goodreads Link.

I posted my tattoo that includes Taylor Swift lyrics on here a few weeks back. My other tattoo, which you can't see in that photo, is a fragment of a Sappho poem! You can imagine how excited I am to see this post - two of of my favorite things colliding!!! lol

Thank you for the thoughtful comparison!

The poet/Classicist Anne Carson did a translation with facing Greek text:

https://www.amazon.com/If-Not-Winter-Fragments-Sappho/dp/0375724516

If I recall correctly, it's not a scholarly text (i.e., there's no app crit, and it's cleaned up a bit). I don't know if that matters to you.

This doesn't have the "Brothers Poem" from P.Obbink (but that may be a forgery anyhow).

I am currently reading aversion translated by John Ciardi, and it’s easier to understand than I expected. There are some phrases that are more flowery or oblique, but I just read them carefully.

The start of every Canto has a summary of what you’re about to read, the text of the Canto, then footnotes that explain references in the text or idioms of the region & time. I haven’t even needed to read the summaries because the translation is easy enough to understand. I’m barely into the Inferno, but if you’re looking for accessible, I can recommend this one.

After you finish Hobb’s heartbreaking work of staggering genius, perhaps try Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Lions of Al-Rassan for that “nice, light palate cleanser” cheer me up you were looking for?

If you're willing to really commit to the lore then I suggest reading the book, Arthur Waley's Monkey.

The TV shows suggested here will help but this translation is great and really pays respect to the original tale.

There’s a translated book called “Monkey: Folk Novel of China” if you want a good English version. It’s on Audible too and I love the audio book narrator. It’s abridged but really gives you a great starting point. Amazon link

I love Conquering The Demons but it’s pretty far off from the original story. It was one of my first introductions to it too.

The prose edda is pretty good, penguin has a print of it you can get off of amazon for pretty cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Prose-Edda-Mythology-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140447555

https://www.amazon.com/Grendel-John-Gardner/dp/0679723110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518389388&sr=8-1&keywords=grendel+john+gardner

"Poor Grendel's had an accident," I whisper. "So may you all."

Also, be careful with relativistic thinking. Some countries ARE in the wrong.

For one last try, I'd recommend <em>The Lions of Al-Rassan</em>. It's my favourite work of his, and if there's any GGK work that might tip the scales for you, it's this.

Sorry for your disappoint. However, you STILL might find some historical writing pretty fascinating. Try reading Inanna, Goddess of Heaven and Earth or Sumerians, might just be what you're looking for.

I've only ever read the one version, but I thought the Penguin Classic one was a very readable translation and it's probably the easiest to find.

Also not a documentary, and not really a good enough response for a top-level comment, but the Prose Edda is surprisingly short, readable, and comprehensive. I'd really recommend OP just picking up a copy and having a read.

I started reading The Divine Comedy using the Mark Musa translation (link is to amazon, other electronic retailers are available) and I found it to be pretty sound. There are some illustrations, but most helpful are the contextual notes which explain in some detail the backgrounds of the various characters he meets dwelling in particular upon those that are allusions to figures from medieval Florence.

For Paradise Lost, go with the Oxford World Classics edition. The notes are really clear, at least in the edition I used last year.

As for The Divine Comedy, Robert Hollander's translation, while unrhymed, is immaculate and captures a lot of the subtleties lost in other, more strict translations.

I read the Hollander edition and I really enjoyed it. Like the other versions mentioned, it has the original Italian next to the translation, allowing for direct comparison.

Favorites:

Wizard and Glass -King

American Gods -Gaiman

Inside Delta Force -Haney

Zoe's Tale -Scalzi

20,000 Leagues -Verne

Obscure:

Monkey - Wu..... Seriously, one of my all time favorite reads.

The Complete Book of Swords -Sabrehagen

Eyes of Horus -Grant