Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsModern Restraint Allows Fuller Appreciation. Swift. Spare. Poetry. Beware Limited Downloads.
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2015
This translation sings. It flies. It is spare. It is direct. Mitchell refrains from the epithets which weight the Pope translation. Where he does retain repetition, his verse becomes ceremonial chant, giving meaning and gravity to the narrated acts. Example, in five recurrent scenes of hospitality to strangers, "...with a beautiful golden jug, and she poured clear water over his hands as he rinsed them, catching it in a silver basin..." Mitchell has done well in reserving his rhetorical pointing to the significant where generosity, celebration and virtue are measured and judged.
Mitchell's modern restraint allows fuller appreciation of character and dilemma: the ethics, the politics and the prejudices of the culture. This translation is shot through with a numinous quality. If you have not read this since high school, I recommend you read this translation now.
My one concern: As with my other kindle poetry books, I simultaneously downloaded this on kindle, ipads and laptop attached to hdmi TV screen. This ebook has a limited number (4?) of allowed downloads. I wish amazon had warned me. I wouldn't have been so profligate in repeatedly downloading, removing (and revelling :-) ) in this book.
