Homeric Hymns

Description

Poet and translator Sarah Ruden offers a sparkling new translation of one of our prime sources for archaic Greek mythology, ritual, cosmology, and psychology. 'Some say that you were born, O Stitched-In god,; At windy Icarus or Draconum; Or Naxos or the deep-whirled Alpheus river; To Semele and Zeus who loves the thunder.; Others, my lord, claim Thebes was your beginning; Liars. Far off from men, creation's father; Engendered you unknown to white-armed Hera...

Translated by Sarah Ruden; Introduction and Notes by Sheila Murnaghan

Sarah Ruden's translation is clear, lean, intelligent, and delightfully readable. The notes provide guidance without encumbering the text. This will be marvelous for classroom use, for reading aloud, or simply for reading for pleasure. --Pamela Gordon, Department of Classics, University of Kansas The translation moves along at a smart and elegant pace. . . . Ruden is clearly a writer with considerable skill in poetic expression. . . . [Sheila Murnaghan's] introduction does a good job of introducing the Homeric Hymns to a general audience and assisting the inexperienced reader in reading the longer hymns, in particular. [This] new translation will clearly fill a niche for a convenient and inexpensive translation of the Homeric Hymns into English verse. . . . --Roger S. Fisher, Bryn Mawr Classical Review Clear, inclusive, luminously helpful, the Ruden/Murnaghan Homeric Hymns is a text I'll use next time I teach my ever-expanding Mythology in Literature class. Introduction, translation, and notes are all of superior quality. --Rachel Hadas, Department of English, Rutgers University