Digging into the Iliad with a new (to me) translation--

I started reading Caroline Alexander's translation (2015) of the Iliad this weekend, and I'm not disappointed at all. It's been quite a few years since I have read it, and the last time, it was a prose translation which I did not like at all. I first read it in my undergrad Classics in Translation class, and it was in verse. I loved it.

Let's recap the story: 

The tale begins with two dudes in a major pissing match; both have enormous egos, one has a real grievance against the other, and it's all over "spoils" from war--women-- and how, when one of the women is essentially in protected status (daughter of the priest of Apollo), her return is refused, even after a huge ransom is offered. 

Achilles basically tells Agamemnon that he is a jerk, saying he's done more of the hands-on work in battle, and Agamemnon just takes the good stuff because he can. Achilles tells him to return the girl, take the ransom, and move on. But Agamemnon prefers the young girl to his wife (yes, the jerk is married), and won't give her up. Well, this attitude is causing real issues: a plague that hits the soldiers, strife and discord, and his number one hammer is pissed at him. Agamemnon reluctantly returns the girl and some ritual sacrificial animals on a ship overseen by Odysseus, but decides that Achilles' "prize" will be his, instead. Even Agamemnon's official heralds don't want to do their job (go seize the girl), but they do, pretty much because they have no choice. Briseis (the girl) does not want to go, but none of them really have a choice-- Agamemnon is the boss. 

Cue Achilles whining to his momma about the mistreatment. He's decided to sit by his ships and let Agamemnon do his own thing, without his help. He is sulking. After he asks her, Thetis then petitions Zeus to sort this out and give her son glory, which he somewhat reluctantly agrees to-- his wife, Hera, ain't happy. She happens to like both Agamemnon and Achilles, and really dislikes Zeus' philandering and deal-making. Book I ends with the seeds sown for major discord, and the gods are ready to play chess with the humans. 

Woo!

I've got this idea that next year, when I get to teach Creative Writing again, I might just have the students read the Iliad as a bridge between poetry and prose-- such storytelling! I'm not a fan of reading excerpts, so I'm working through this text with the eye towards making it an anchor text we will spend a lot of time on. 

But I'm also enjoying it, which is the whole point, right? 

I hope you have a good day. Stay warm,

C