Homer's Ilaid
Translated by William Guy
Xlibris, 2015

Sample from the Opening of the Poem

Brutal wrath of Akhilleus,
Peleus's son, o goddess sing==
Which put unnumbered woes on the Akhaioi,
And which hurled to Hades many valiant souls of heroes,
And which made them prey for dogs and all the birds--
And Zeus's will was being brought to pass--
From when the son of Atreus, men's king,
And brilliant Akhilleus first conceived offense and quarreled.
Who of the gods then brought these two
In strife together fighting?
The son of Leto and Zeus.
For he sent dreadful sickness through the army
In his outrage at the king==
Armies died because the son of Atreus
Dishonored Khruses the priest.
For, bearing countless ransom=gifts, he'd come
To the Akhaians' rapid ships to free his daughter,
Holding fillets of Apollo, distant shooter,
In his hands upon the goden staff of office,
He entreated all the Akhaioi,
But the two sons of Atreus, those marshallers
Of armies, most of all:
"Atreus's sons and other well-greaved Akhaioi,
May the gods who have their dwelling in Olumpos
Let you plunder Priam's city, then go home safely.
But relelase my darling daughter, and accept these gifts
As ransom, and evince respect for Zeus's son
Apollo, distant shooter."
The other Akhaioi nodded their assent
To showing honor to the priest
And to receiving splendid gifts.
But this did not seem pleasing
To the mind of Agamemnon, son of Atreus,
Who insultingly dismissed him,
And imposed a harsh injunction:
"Never let me find you either lingering now
Or later coming back beside the hollow ships, old man,
Lest scepter and the fillets of the god
Should not protect you then.
I will not let her go--before I do old age
Will come upon her at our house in Argos,
Far from her native country,
As sge walks along the loom and shares my bed.
Now go away and don't provoke my anger,
So that you may go home more safely."
Thus he spoke, the old man was afraid
And did the bidding of his statement.
He went his way in silence by the shore of the noisy sea.
Stepping aside, the old man prayed intensely to
Apollo the king, whom Leto of the lovely hair had born:
"Hear me, mouse-god, silver-bowed one,
Circling Khruse, sacred Killa round,
And ruling Tenedos with might.
If ever I have put a roof that pleased you on your temple,
If I have ever burnt the fatty thighs of bulls
And goats to you, fulfill for me this wish:
May the Danaoi pay for my tears by your shafts."

REVIEW COMMENT

Guy's translation is in "free verse," but his lines often bring to mind Ezra Pound's dictum: "No verse is libre for the man who wants to do a good job." The most important justification for removing the constraints of a regularly repeating verse form (according to Pound) is to enhance the musical and imagistic quality of the verse, elements that seem in short supply in many of these lines. One can justly wonder whether adopting a free verse format adds anything to what is essentially a prose translation (a question worth directing at other free verse translations).

Guy's English is sufficiently clear, although at times one wonders about certain choices ("you've never had the guts to put on armour," "did the bidding of his statement," and about the curious repetitions, "which . . . / And which . . . / And which . . ."; "They furled their sail when they had reached/ The many-recessed harbor, and they placed it/ In the black ship, they had let it down by ropes--/ They brought the mast down swiftly to the crutch,/ They rowed it to its anchorge with oars./ They threw the stones with hawsers out,/ They bound them fiirmly to the stern./ They stepped out at the breakers' edge,/ They disembarked the animals devoted to Apollo . . ." I find it difficult to underststand why Guy has chosen to write in this way, rather than using a less repetitive syntax.

For a longer preview of Guy's translation, please use the following link: Guy Iliad

List of Published English Translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey