Works of Hesiod and the Homeric hymns

From the Publisher: In Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns, highly acclaimed poet and translator Daryl Hine brings new life to the words of Hesiod and the world of Archaic Greece. Unlike most available prose renderings of their works, Hine's illuminating translations present these classics as they originally appeared, in verse. This volume includes Hesiod's Works and Days and Theogony, two of the oldest non-Homeric poems to survive. Works and Days is filled with cautionary tales and advice for managing harvests and maintaining a good work ethic. Theogony is the earliest comprehensive account of classical mythology-including the names and genealogies of the gods and monsters of Olympus, the sea, and the underworld. Hine captures Hesiod's gritty and persuasive voice, which provides a rare glimpse into the everyday life of ordinary people in the eighth century BCE. In contrast, the Homeric Hymns depict aristocratic life in voices whose polished tones reveal little of the narrators' personalities. These hymns (so named because they address the deities in short invocations at the beginning and end of each) are among the earliest examples of Greek epyllia, or short stories in the epic manner.

Contents:

Introduction -- Hessiod's Works -- Works and days -- Theogony -- Homeric Hymns -- Battle Of The Frogs And The Mice -- Index.

ISBN:

9780226329659

Publication Date as Range:

2005

Holds: Copies:

Available:

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Delta College Library	Searching... Unknown	Circulating	PA4010 .E5 2005	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Winner of the 2005 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets.

In Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns , highly acclaimed poet and translator Daryl Hine brings to life the words of Hesiod and the world of Archaic Greece. While most available versions of these early Greek writings are rendered in prose, Hine's illuminating translations represent these early classics as they originally appeared, in verse. Since prose was not invented as a literary medium until well after Hesiod's time, presenting these works as poems more closely approximates not only the mechanics but also the melody of the originals.

This volume includes Hesiod's Works and Days and Theogony , two of the oldest non-Homeric poems to survive from antiquity. Works and Days is in part a farmer's almanac--filled with cautionary tales and advice for managing harvests and maintaining a good work ethic--and Theogony is the earliest comprehensive account of classical mythology--including the names and genealogies of the gods (and giants and monsters) of Olympus, the sea, and the underworld. Hine brings out Hesiod's unmistakable personality; Hesiod's tales of his escapades and his gritty and persuasive voice not only give us a sense of the author's own character but also offer up a rare glimpse of the everyday life of ordinary people in the eighth century BCE.

In contrast, the Homeric Hymns are more distant in that they depict aristocratic life in a polished tone that reveals nothing of the narrators' personalities. These hymns (so named because they address the deities in short invocations at the beginning and end of each) are some of the earliest examples of epyllia , or short stories in the epic manner in Greek.

This volume unites Hine's skillful translations of the Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns--along with Hine's rendering of the mock-Homeric epic The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice --in a stunning pairing of these masterful classics.

Author Notes

The poet Hesiod tells us that his father gave up sea-trading and moved from Ascra to Boeotia, that as he himself tended sheep on Mount Helicon the Muses commanded him to sing of the gods, and that he won a tripod for a funeral song at Chalcis.

The poems credited to him with certainty are: the Theogony, an attempt to bring order into the otherwise chaotic material of Greek mythology through genealogies and anecdotes about the gods; and The Works and Days, a wise sermon addressed to his brother Perses as a result of a dispute over their dead father's estate. This latter work presents the injustice of the world with mythological examples and memorable images, and concludes with a collection of folk wisdom.

Uncertain attributions are the Shield of Heracles and the Catalogue of Women. Hesiod is a didactic and individualistic poet who is often compared and contrasted with Homer, as both are representative of early epic style. "Hesiod is earth-bound and dun colored; indeed part of his purpose is to discredit the brilliance and the ideals of heroism glorified in the homeric tradition. But Hesiod, too, is poetry, though of a different order. . . " (Moses Hadas, N.Y. Times).

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Dactylic translations of Greek epic enjoy a current vogue, and this offering is a pleasant addition to that literature. Hine (a poet) is for the most part successful in reproducing the long cadences of hexameters in English with enough variety to avoid an undue singsong effect. However, the reader must become accustomed to a few oddities, for example, the frequent occurrence of articles at line-ends. Meter also seems to dictate a choice of longer and less-common words than the Greek asks for (e.g., "progenitor" for the simple Greek "pater"), although the vocabulary is in many places fresh and lively ("wrinkled Olympus," "shrill din of the cranes"). The translation is accurate for the most part--clear, smooth, and easy to understand. The syntax is vigorous, at times making use of a mild parataxis. The short notes and the index of names are most helpful. Perhaps one should not be surprised that the introduction to a rather disparate collection of poems should lack focus, and that an essay by a poet is neither scholarly nor instructive, but this reviewer would have welcomed more appreciation for the original works. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. H. M. Roisman Colby College

Introduction

Hesiod's Works

Works and Days

Theogony

The Homeric Hymns

The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice

Index

Available:

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Table of Contents