The Iliad-Emily Wilson’s Translation

I have just finished reading the Iliad for a class that I am taking this semester. While I knew the general outlines of the story, I had never read this work. With Wilson’s translation, a reader is in very good hands.

The story comes to life with evocative (and at times gruesome) language. This story of a period in the long Trojan War makes readers think about so many things. Among these are the roles of the Gods and fate, politics, war, loyalty, grief and much more.

My professor had us track themes as we read which added enormously to my understanding and appreciation of this work. For example, pick an object and think about its meaning (I chose Zeus’s aegis) or pick a passage where the language appealed greatly (I wrote about a dead soldier’s helmet that was compared to a flower) and these are just two of my many journal entries.

I left this work feeling that it resonated with me. I felt sorrow for the many fallen soldiers, the losses of those who were deeply valued and loved, and also thought a lot about fate, gods and why things happen as they do. These issues are still very much alive today.

Wilson’s introduction to the book is absolutely marvelous. I learned so much from it.

I think that it might be hard to motivate one’s self to read this title outside of a class but I am very glad that I did.

Have any of you read anything translated by Wilson?