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Matthew Arnold praised the Iliad for its 'nobility', as has everyone ever since - but ancient critics praised it for its enargeia, its 'bright unbearable reality' (the word used when gods come to earth not in disguise but as themselves). To retrieve the poem's energy, Alice Oswald has stripped away its story, and her account focuses by turns on Homer's extended similes and on the brief 'biographies' of the minor war-dead, most of whom are little more than names, but each of whom lives and dies unforgettably - and unforgotten - in the copiousness of Homer's glance. "The Iliad is an oral poem. This translation presents it as an attempt - in the aftermath of the "Trojan War" - to remember people's names and lives without the use of writing. I hope it will have its own coherence as a series of memories and similes laid side by side: an antiphonal account of man in his world ...compatible with the spirit of oral poetry, which was never stable but always adapting itself to a new audience, as if its language, unlike written language, was still alive and kicking". (Alice Oswald).
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Review:
'Brilliant in its own right . . . has 15 or so perfect touches that show Oswald to be a considerable poet.' -- Craig Raine, Guardian Books of the Year >> '[One of] the two most impressive books of poetry I've read this year ... this brilliantly animates [The Iliad] as it creates a poignant new lament for war dead.' -- Andrew Motion, TLS >> 'A wonderful book, the most profound reimagining of Homer since Derek Walcott's Omeros.' -- Peter Thonemann, TLS >> 'Takes off from The Iliad to find a brilliance and resonance all of its own.' -- Anne Chisholm, Sunday Telegraph Books of the Year >> 'An uncompromising rewriting of The Iliad, stripping away its epic narrative to foreground its fallen foot-soldiers.' -- Josephine Balmer, The Times Books of the Year>> 'An elegy of quite extraordinary power.' Andrew Motion, The Times Books of the Year >> 'A deft and plangent reworking of Homer's Iliad.' --Sarah Crown, Guardian Books of the Year
Book Description:
A glitteringly original new poem which is also a version of Homer's Iliad, from prize-winning poet Alice Oswald
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherFaber & Faber
- Publication date2011
- ISBN 10 0571276296
- ISBN 13 9780571276295
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages96
- Rating
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