This is very true! For many years, if you were a classics major and you weren't already fluent in Greek, your go-to translations would be Lattimore or Fitzgerald, but there was always interpretation, and several other respected versions. Recently, the Emily Wilson translation was worth a look!

I'm not entirely convinced he would know it was supposed to be a poem in the first place. Since hearing Elon Musk speak out loud on topics where he is supposedly an industry leader (fully a decade ago, via youtube), very little in the way of ignorance or idiocy would surprise me, coming from him.

My kingdom to have someone ask him how he enjoyed Goncharov.

I know there are columns to write, news shows to fill and election consultants who need
to justify hourly billing rates. But as someone who attended the scavenger hunt, canvassed on election day and lived in NYC since 2016, affordability is a huge issue and it was nice to feel joy in politics again

Far be it for me to say you can't translate an epic poem as prose! Teachers in my literature classes wouldn't have allowed it, but you're reading for fun, right? Do what works!

But don't get superior about how you're being authentic if it's not dactylic hexameter. <i>It's *meant* to be *sung*.</i>

And those traits *are not equal* between translations. Not all translations sound equally awesome read aloud, just as not all are equally literal or equally representative.

This is the E.V. Rieu translation (of the Odyssey). And here's the thing: That's a prose translation.

As in, not a poem.

Why was I trying to identify the specific edition? Well you see. Penguin has actually released multiple translations of The Iliad, and this post did not specify who the translator was. Our person here notes the importance of Greek epic poetry as a spoken art form. Surely phrasing and euphony matter.