Wednesday, 22 July 2026

NOT THE ODYSSEY

 The Odyssey is in the news.  There have been comments on its translation, and there are interesting comments at https://emily613.substack.com/p/translating-the-beginning-of-the.  This shows four translations of the first few lines.  It was the reference somewhere to "a complicated man" that set my mind going.  Despite the profundity related to the Lord Jesus He was not "a complicated man".  I next ran onto the references in Proverbs 30: 29-31, favourites of mine.

The four translations of Homer are:

Emily Wilson:

"Tell me about a complicated man"

Robert Fitzgerald:

"Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story

Of that man skilled in all ways of contending"

T E Lawrence (of Arabia):

"Sustain for me

This song of the various-minded man"

Robert Fagles

"Sing to me of the man, Muse,

The man of twists and turns".


THE MAN


Tell me about

A straightforward Man, the lion

Who turns not aside for any.


Sustain for me this song

Of the single-minded Man, loins girded

For the Father's will.


Sing in me of that Man,

Skilled in all ways of peace,

A he-goat without blemish.                   Ezekiel 43: 22


Sing to me of the Man,

With straight feet, the king                    Ezekiel 1: 7

Against whom none can rebel.




The Firth of Forth from North Berwick



No comments:

Post a Comment

I'm glad to hear how this strikes you!