There's not a single memorable line in this book

On the off chance that this isn't bait, you must have read a shitty translation.

GREY-EYED ATHENA

>>10000338
OP has gone to have a hissy fit in his mom's basement

>>10000252
>ThereHectormet him, and showered reproach on him: ‘Sinful Paris beautiful to look on, seducer and deceiver of women, I wish you had never been born, or had died before you wed. Such is my wish indeed, far better than disgrace us all, an object of men’s contempt. The long-haired Greeks must laugh out loud, and cry that our champion was chosen only for beauty, devoid of strength and courage. Was it not you who with your close comrades sailed the deep in your sea-going ships, mixed with foreigners and brought back a fair woman from a far-off land, the daughter of fierce spearmen, a source of woe to your father, city, nation; pleasing your enemies, shaming yourself? And dare you not face Menelaus, beloved of Ares, now? You would find what kind of man it is whose fair wife you stole. Your lyre will not help you, nor will those gifts ofAphrodite, your looks and your flowing locks, when he lays you in the dust. But the Trojans lack spirit or you would have sunk beneath a shower of stones by now, given all your sinful ways.’

>>10000252
The first line is one of the most iconic in western literature

>>10000338
>muh translation
Maybe he's just a pleb?

>>10000252
>oral poetry meant to be memorized and recited
>not memorable

>Darkness covered his eyes

"Hear, all ye Trojan, all ye Grecian bands,
What my soul prompts, and what some god commands.
Great Jove, averse our warfare to compose,
O'erwhelms the nations with new toils and woes;
War with a fiercer tide once more returns,
Till Ilion falls, or till yon navy burns.
You then, O princes of the Greeks! appear;
'Tis Hector speaks, and calls the gods to hear:
From all your troops select the boldest knight,
And him, the boldest, Hector dares to fight.
Here if I fall, by chance of battle slain,
Be his my spoil, and his these arms remain;
But let my body, to my friends return'd,
By Trojan hands and Trojan flames be burn'd.
And if Apollo, in whose aid I trust,
Shall stretch your daring champion in the dust;
If mine the glory to despoil the foe;
On Phoebus' temple I'll his arms bestow:
The breathless carcase to your navy sent,
Greece on the shore shall raise a monument;
Which when some future mariner surveys,
Wash'd by broad Hellespont's resounding seas,
Thus shall he say, 'A valiant Greek lies there,
By Hector slain, the mighty man of war,'
The stone shall tell your vanquish'd hero's name.
And distant ages learn the victor's fame."

This fierce defiance Greece astonish'd heard,
Blush'd to refuse, and to accept it fear'd.

>>10000252
>waah, this book has no LE EPIC QUOTES
>therefore it's BAAAD

JUST SO

>>10000632
>The first line is one of the most iconic in western literature
Yet no one can agree on Rage or Fury, or Wrath. No one can agree.

More than The Odyssey.
Priam says some cool shit.

SWEET SLEEP

>>10001732
that's because you're a monolingual anglopleb

>Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.

>>10001690
And his armor clattered upon him.

>>10003118
>fagles

hahahahaha

are the sam butler translations good? theyre the only ones that seem to be in public domain

>>10000343
ROSY FINGERED DAWN

>>10000632
>the first line is one of the most iconic in western literature

first line:
>Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage,
yeah, very iconic indeed

>>10003181
Fagles is best

>>10003210
WINE DARK SEA

>>10000343
STERN ACHILLES

>>10000252
PITILESS BRONZE

>>10001690
my man

Stop pretending you enjoy reading this shit.

HE PIERCED ABOVE THE NIPPLE WITH HIS BRONZE-TIPPED SPEAR

>>10003338
FLYING FREE OF HIS LIMBS HIS SOUL WENT WINGING DOWN TO THE HOUSE OF DEATH WAILING HIS FATE

seriously you utter faggots need to stop hating on Homer. the poetry is so masculine one is tempted to post dick pics to strengthen the bonds of literary camaraderie

try reading Ὅμηρος instead of wasting your time reading robert fitzgerald.

>>10003351
LEAVING HIS MANHOOD FAR BEHIND, HIS YOUNG AND SUPPLE STRENGTH

>>10000252
There obviously is, since it was an oral tradition for, 3,000 fucking years.

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>>10000252
>Marxist rats purged my identity and culture and I love it!

Imagine being something even LOWER than a pseud--someone who not only does not actually understand any classical material, but revels in the fact that he is incapable of understanding it, and considers it a badge of honor only to inform those around him of his ignorance.

>>10000252
The last few lines are memorable and even sad.

>>10000338
@ anyone in this thread

What is/are the lit approved Homer translation(s)? Which are the most poetic and academically respected?

>>10003808
Fagles is pretty well-liked overall. Lattimore is pretty good - I'm sure you can still find it around.

>>10003808
Don't go with fagles

Go Pope, Lattimore or Fitzgerald

>>10000252
There's not supposed to be.

>>10003808
mirin' them hawaii digits

Fagles was my first read of Homer. I'm sentimental about it; Fitzgerald is better. I've read his Aeneid as well, it is sublime.

>>10002535
You don't know Greek, stop roleplaying.

>>10003259
Are you retarded or are you just pretending to be?

>>10005051
that is literally the first line of iliad

>>10004986
I didn't say I know Greek (I do actually). I was referring to other languages. "Cantami o diva del Pelide Achille l'ira funesta", for example, is known by virtually everybody in Italy. Same for France, Spain and (I guess) Germany.

>>10005128
>>10005113
See what I mean? Anglos don't even know the importance of that line because the English translation sucks. (And because the English literary tradition isn't as focused on the Greek classics as that of other European countries)

Can anyone justify the incessant repetition without "muh oral poetry"?

>>10005140
Better rhythm (a repeated phrase will have a certain "musical" value; it is a tool used by a lot of older literature to great effect in general - see the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh).
And, well, "muh oral poetry" is a good enough justification. I don't understand what did you expect. Homer's art is a product of its place and era. Repetition was a useful tool in that context.

>>10005140
Muh oral poetry is the reason for all the repetition though
You try and remember literally the entirety of the Iliad, then perform it for a king by singing it as well as playing harp

>>10005367
>>10005429
Sorry, I meant repetition of action. Why are half the books indistinguishable battle scenes? It's not like that in the Odyssey. Genuinely looking for answers, not trying to be a contrarian.

>>10000000

The natural thing, men and women joined.

>>10005456
There's more battle because it's a story about a war. As for why they focus so much on who lives and who dies and who kills who, it's because many of the people mentioned were local legends from their communities and were celebrated for taking part in the Trojan War.

>>10005456
Depends on why you think they're indistinguishable, my guess would be the minute descriptions of gratuitous violence, like how you have to hear just how many bones a spear broke through, how many layers of armour, where arrows entered and where they exited, etc.
I think this is largely chalked up to simple differences in taste, I'm sure I've read this in Fagles' introduction as well as C.M. Bowra's scholarly work on the epic (just to provide a recent and an older take on the matter). I also agree that these descriptions themselves can be quite indistinguishable, just like I have a hard time keeping one mountain lion analogy apart from the other, but the battles instead acquire a special significance from what precedes them, like Paris being a huge pussy, Diomedes not giving a fuck, stuff like that.
This is the best explanation I can provide, at least.

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>The present eye praises the present object.
Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;

>>10000252
what a shitty cover art, doesn't look greek at all

>>10003259
Try reading a version that is not adapted for the mentally challenged