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Gary's Reviews > Aeneid Book VI
Aeneid Book VI
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Seamus Heaney's new translation of Book VI of Virgil's Aeneid, composed sometime between 29 and 19 BC, retells the story of Aeneas' descent into the underworld (Dis), down to "Death's deepest regions," in search of his dear father's spirit. Although I'm not qualified to comment on the quality of Heaney's translation of the epic poem from Latin into English compared to earlier translations by Fagles, Fitzgerald, Dryden, and Ahl, et al., other than to say I'm sure it was no easy feat, his finished rendition is something quite enjoyable to read. Should you read it? Of course. It is not only a classic, pre-dating both the Christian concept of Hell and Dante's Inferno, but Aeneas' archetypal descent into the underworld is a journey you'll not soon forget.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
April 30, 2016
– Shelved
April 30, 2016
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to-read
April 30, 2016
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poetry
June 20, 2016
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archetypes
June 20, 2016
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books-in-translation
June 20, 2016
– Shelved as:
of-gods-and-men
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Dolors
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Jun 21, 2016 02:45AM
I have Heaney's poems to read before I tackle his translated works, but I hope to get there, eventually...
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His Beowulf is very much worth reading. And for his own poems, I still keep thinking of "Blackberry-Picking," which you can find here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems...Enjoy.
I also appreciated his Beowulf, and his own poetry, and was lucky enough to hear him read it, he really brings it to life. This looks good. Another twist on the Orpheus story, maybe?. One of my favorite college courses was Ancient Epic but I now remember little of the Aeneid. Did Heaney already translate the earlier books or did he just choose to translate this selection?
Maybe this is something for me, as I struggle with a very dry German translation and my Latin unfortunately is somewhat reduced to Errare Humanum Est, after years of trying to forget those LONG classes. I liked his Beowulf translation very much, as well as his Greek adaptations.
