The Odyssey of Homer
Translated by J. G. Cordery
London, 1897

[Sample from the Opening of the Poem]

ODYSSEY I.

Sing through my lips, O Goddess, sing the man
Resourceful, who, storm-buffeted far and wide,
After despoiling of Troy’s sacred tower,
Beheld the cities of mankind, and knew
Their various temper! Many on the sea
The sorrows in his inmost heart he bore
For rescue of his comrades and his life:
Those not for all his effort might he save;
Fools, of their own perversities they fell,
Daring consume the cattle of the Sun
Hyperion, who bereft them of return!
That we too may have knowledge, sing these things,
Daughter of Zeus, beginning whence thou wilt!

Now of the others, spared from violent death,
All had gained home and rest from war and wave;
Him only, though still yearning for his wife
And his dear home, Calypso, Nymph divine,
Held in her grottoes and implored to rest
Her wedded spouse. Ev’n when with rolling time
The year came round, wherein was preordained
His safe returning unto Ithaca,
Not then of those his troubles was he clear
Or with his friends at peace: whom all the Gods
Now pitied, save Poseidon; He alone
Against divine Odysseus cherished wrath
Relentless, till he reached his native shore.

But great Poseidon now was far away
Amongst the Æthiops, furthermost of men,
Two tribes, divided; one beholds the sun
Rising, the other looks upon his fall.
Thither in prospect of a hecatomb
Of lambs and bulls departing, He aloof
Was joying in that offering. But the rest
Were gathered in the Olympian hall of Zeus:
Amongst whom the great Father of the world
Began address, recalling to sad heart
Ægisthus by renowned Orestes slain;
With this remembrance thus he spake, and said:
“Ah shame on mortals, who reproach the Gods
And say that evil is from us, but they
By their own sins bring sorrows on themselves,
Over and above the measure of their Fates.
As once Ægisthus, quite transgressing fate,
Wedded Atrides’ wedded wife and slew
The Hero on return, albeit aware
Of the dread ruin hurrying thereupon,
Whereof we told him first, and sent a God
Hermeias Argeiphontes guide in Heaven
To warn him that he should not kill the King
Nor woo the queen; since vengeance would be born
Of the brave youth Orestes, when he came
To manhood and should ask his heritage.
So Hermes spake, yet turned not by his word,
For all its strong intent, Ægisthus heart:
And verily he hath paid—a thousand-fold.”

REVIEW COMMENT

Cordery in his Preface sets out what are to my mind admirable intentions:

I have attempted to be as literal and as close to the original as a thorough substitution of English for Greek grammar and idiom will allow. . . . With this fidelity I have sought to combine a spontaneous rhythm with sufficient rise and fall in it to indicate to the English reader the existence of those passages in which Homer rises to heights far beyond the tether or any translator.

And I especially welcome his insistence upon this point:

I have eschewed the use of all mock-archaic diction in which so many translators indulge, because I believe that Homer’s language was to his original audiences not a whit more antiquated than that of Shakspeare [sic] or Milton, or of any poetry as now contrasted with prose, sounds to our own ears.

Unfortunately, good intentions do not necessarily lead to good results, and Cordery’s desire to offer an effective modern diction does not really succeed, in large part because of his unimaginative reliance on the syntax and vocabulary of traditional poetry (e.g., “and slew/ The Hero on return, albeit aware/ Of the dread ruin hurrying thereupon,/ Whereof we told him first . . .”).

For a contemporary review of Cordery’s Odyssey, please use the following link: The Academy (1897)

For a longer preview of Cordery’s Odyssey (at Amazon) use this link: Cordery Odyssey.

[List of Published English translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey]