They speak to our modern world in many ways. From the start I was hooked the brilliant retelling of events in chapter 2 (If memory serves me right) regarding the fall of Troy and how the refugees fled the city, the loss of Aneas' wife and how he shoulders his aged father from the ruins were moving. However for whatever reason I had never approached the Aeneid. I throughly enjoy Homer I have listened to and read the Iliad and the Odyssey a number of times, especially the former which I would go as far as saying I consider to be a fundamental piece on the way I think and view life, death and legacy. For example the use of the word 'dugs', I don't think benefits anyone.Ī good continuation of the epic tradition While it moves along at a reasonable pace, some of the vocabulary appears to be deliberately archaic. Even more subjectivity, I'm not a huge fan of this translation (although I'm not aware of a better one). Some of the battle scenes are reminiscent of someone commentating a horse race, which admittedly brought a smile to my face, but isn't the tone I would expect.

I can't fault the guy for enthusiasm but it was just a little over the top at points. For me the narration was a little over excited. Presumably this recording was done a few years ago, perhaps for radio, and has been recycled for Audible. Its not even in a format I could use on my ereader. I'm not going to read a PDF in an app on my phone. This means occasionally a 'chapter' ends and you get a short burst of music at a particularly incongruous point.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.ĭespite the Aeneid famously having 12 chapters, to mirror Homers work, inexplicably this version has been split in to 10 chapters.

Here, Fagles brings to life the timeless journey of Aeneas as he flees the ashes of Troy to found Roman society and change forever the course of the Western world.įagles' translation retains all of the gravitas and humanity of the original as well as its powerful blend of poetry and myth. The Aeneid is a sweeping epic of arms and heroism and a searching portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and the force of his own destiny. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. Here is the much-anticipated new translation of Virgil's epic poem from the award-winning translator Robert Fagles.

The aeneid robert fagles