Gilgamesh is my favorite place to get people started with epics. Especially for men. Especially for men who aren’t used to reading. It’s a great buddy tale, and has all the elements of an epic: friendship, adventure, struggles between gods and fate, a descent into the realm of the dead, etc.
All of these were required in m Literature class in High School and again in College. I don’t think High Schools have students study these great poems anymore. Sad!
Thank you for underlining the importance of these works !
I read *Paradise Lost* last year and was amazed at how modern and relevant the book was, especially — the irony is not lost on me — the arguments of Lucifer and the not so well hidden critique of the omnipotent God.
But it is another detail that fascinated me: I read the book in English but I also read it in French — my mother tongue. The most known french translation is from François-René de Chateaubriand, one of the most famous romantic writers of the 19th century and to this day still considered one of the greatest writers in French literature. His *Le Paradis Perdu* is extraordinary: he decided to do an almost “word-to-word” translation, which gives it a strange and occult and magical feel.
Ha! Read 'em all. But - despite having a BA from Oxford in Eng. Lit. & Lang. 1972, until Lockdown I had not read Paradise Lost.
To find a work of glory, a technicolour cinemascope depiction of War in Heaven, directed by Cecil B. de Mille.
Divine Comedy. Would that I could read in Italian. But the late Clive James translation is wonderful.
Boomer. 73. Brit. My education was filled with myth, acts of heroism and the epic. Loved it. And read Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon at 15, thanks to a wonderful English teacher. Gawayne as well, in Middle English, Piers Plowman and many of the Canterbury Tales, and nearly 60 years on I spout the opening to the Prologue every April...
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licóur
Of which vertú engendred is the flour;
Am returning to the Tales. As my prologue, I have just read GK Chesterton's "Chaucer". Wonderful. And why cannot we like prose like that any more? Good prose should have rhythm and melody, like music.
Great article. Read the Fitzgerald translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey in lockdown as well, as at last - Joyce's glorious, hilarious Ulysses. Which I must reread
Thank you! I have read Paradise Lost and took the Hillsdale College online course. I loved this book so much, and the Hillsdale course was wonderful. Milton’s way of drawing the reader into the story is wondrous and transformational. I’ve also read Dante’s Divine Comedy just recently - actually during Lent - and I agree with what you said about it. Very useful for self examination and instruction. I’ve yet to read the others, but they are on my list.
I read the lot, for perfecting Italian, English, and etymology. The two Greek works I read in German. The cadence! It may sound strange, but the part where I wept uncontrollably was the death of Argos. I deleted the previous comment due to a grammatical error. English is not my first language.
Not as readily available, but the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi is Persia's answer to Homer and the epic tradition, and every bit as masterful.
The best English translation (available on Archive.org) is in blank verse, by Edmond and Arthur Warner (c. 1910). It also happens to be the only complete English translation.
That you for that ID. I was referring to the engraving from the #1 entry on Milton's Paradise Lost, that is. Is it from the Dore sequences or another artist?
Oh, I thought Blake might be on here according to the top image. Ha! Yeah, to START. Blake is for the seasoned and mad. All the above? Yes, absolutely start there. 😅
Gilgamesh is my favorite place to get people started with epics. Especially for men. Especially for men who aren’t used to reading. It’s a great buddy tale, and has all the elements of an epic: friendship, adventure, struggles between gods and fate, a descent into the realm of the dead, etc.
Such a good call out. I read Gilgamesh for a college class 3 or so years ago. I was a huge fan of the story.
Recommending the Táin Bó Cúailnge from Ireland.
All of these were required in m Literature class in High School and again in College. I don’t think High Schools have students study these great poems anymore. Sad!
I've only read The Odyssey off this list. I just signed up for the Hillsdale 'Paradise Lost' course. Thank you for your articles!
Very mainstream but would recommend “Mahabharata” from India
Would suggest the book by Ami Ganatra on it
And for a little less mainstream one
I’d suggest “Kamayani”
hello!
Thank you for underlining the importance of these works !
I read *Paradise Lost* last year and was amazed at how modern and relevant the book was, especially — the irony is not lost on me — the arguments of Lucifer and the not so well hidden critique of the omnipotent God.
But it is another detail that fascinated me: I read the book in English but I also read it in French — my mother tongue. The most known french translation is from François-René de Chateaubriand, one of the most famous romantic writers of the 19th century and to this day still considered one of the greatest writers in French literature. His *Le Paradis Perdu* is extraordinary: he decided to do an almost “word-to-word” translation, which gives it a strange and occult and magical feel.
One of the most memorable read of my life.
Ha! Read 'em all. But - despite having a BA from Oxford in Eng. Lit. & Lang. 1972, until Lockdown I had not read Paradise Lost.
To find a work of glory, a technicolour cinemascope depiction of War in Heaven, directed by Cecil B. de Mille.
Divine Comedy. Would that I could read in Italian. But the late Clive James translation is wonderful.
Boomer. 73. Brit. My education was filled with myth, acts of heroism and the epic. Loved it. And read Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon at 15, thanks to a wonderful English teacher. Gawayne as well, in Middle English, Piers Plowman and many of the Canterbury Tales, and nearly 60 years on I spout the opening to the Prologue every April...
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licóur
Of which vertú engendred is the flour;
Am returning to the Tales. As my prologue, I have just read GK Chesterton's "Chaucer". Wonderful. And why cannot we like prose like that any more? Good prose should have rhythm and melody, like music.
Great article. Read the Fitzgerald translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey in lockdown as well, as at last - Joyce's glorious, hilarious Ulysses. Which I must reread
Thank you! I have read Paradise Lost and took the Hillsdale College online course. I loved this book so much, and the Hillsdale course was wonderful. Milton’s way of drawing the reader into the story is wondrous and transformational. I’ve also read Dante’s Divine Comedy just recently - actually during Lent - and I agree with what you said about it. Very useful for self examination and instruction. I’ve yet to read the others, but they are on my list.
I read the lot, for perfecting Italian, English, and etymology. The two Greek works I read in German. The cadence! It may sound strange, but the part where I wept uncontrollably was the death of Argos. I deleted the previous comment due to a grammatical error. English is not my first language.
Not as readily available, but the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi is Persia's answer to Homer and the epic tradition, and every bit as masterful.
The best English translation (available on Archive.org) is in blank verse, by Edmond and Arthur Warner (c. 1910). It also happens to be the only complete English translation.
✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨
Where is the very first illustration taken from (the man on the throne)?
"Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council" by John Martin
That you for that ID. I was referring to the engraving from the #1 entry on Milton's Paradise Lost, that is. Is it from the Dore sequences or another artist?
That one is from John Martin's 1827 illustrations
Could you tell me where the very first picture is from? Thanks
I've read all these works at some point. For school, but I would love to go back through and do it again!
Oh, I thought Blake might be on here according to the top image. Ha! Yeah, to START. Blake is for the seasoned and mad. All the above? Yes, absolutely start there. 😅