Vergil's Eclogues

by Barbara Hughes Fowler (Translator)

Overview

Best remembered for his unfinished epic, the Aeneid, the poet Vergil was celebrated in his time both for the perfection of his art and for the centrality of his ideas to Roman culture. The Eclogues, his earliest confirmed work, were composed in part out of political considerations: when the Roman authorities threatened to seize his family's land, Vergil's appeal in the form of Eclogue IX won a stay. Eclogue I appears to be a thank-you for that favor. Barbara Hughes Fowler provides scholars and students with a new American verse translation of Vergil's Eclogues. An accomplished translator, Fowler renders the poet's words into an English that is contemporary while remaining close to the spirit of the original. In an introduction to the text, she compares the treatment of the pastoral form by Vergil and Theocritus, illuminating the ways in which Vergil borrowed from and built upon the earlier poet's work, and thereby moved the genre in a new direction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807861547
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/09/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	65
Lexile:	1060L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Barbara Hughes Fowler is a well-known poet, classicist, and translator whose translations include Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt and Songs of a Friend: Love Lyrics of Medieval Portugal. She is John Bascom Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A handsomely produced poetry book, and in general the verse reads quite well.—Choice



A remarkable translation of an important text. Immediate, relaxed, and close to the spirit of the original.—Eugene W. Bushala, Boston College

Editorial Reviews

Vergil's Eclogues, the earliest works of the great Roman poet, have long been a favorite of translators and imitators. Ostensibly the songs of Arcadian shepherds, they celebrate love, nature, and rural life as well as more elevated topics. This new translation by poet Fowler (classics, emerita, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) joins the modern versions by C. Day Lewis and Guy Lee. Fowler's verse translations are fluent if not always literal, using idiomatic American English that avoids some of the stilted style of Day Lewis. Her textual notes identify names and major allusions. Although regrettably the Latin original is not included, Fowler's version is a pleasure to read.Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.

Library Journal

A handsomely produced poetry book, and in general the verse reads quite well.

"Choice"

A remarkable translation of an important text. Immediate, relaxed, and close to the spirit of the original.

Eugene W. Bushala, Boston College

"A handsomely produced poetry book, and in general the verse reads quite well.

"Choice""

"A remarkable translation of an important text. Immediate, relaxed, and close to the spirit of the original.

Eugene W. Bushala, Boston College"

From the Publisher