Best Ancient & Classical Poetry Books
Here you will get Best Ancient & Classical Poetry Books For you.This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. The Odyssey
Author: by Homer
0140268863
Penguin Classics
English
The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert FaglesA Penguin Classic Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer’s best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation.
“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.” So begins Robert Fagles’ magnificent translation of the Odyssey, which Jasper Griffin in the New York Times Book Review hails as “a distinguished achievement.” If the Iliad is the world’s greatest war epic, the Odyssey is literature’s grandest evocation of an everyman’s journey through life.
Odysseus’ reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance.
2. The Odyssey
Author: by Homer
English
592 pages
0393356256
A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 “Wilson’s language is fresh, unpretentious and leanIt is rare to find a translation that is at once so effortlessly easy to read and so rigorously considered.” Madeline Miller, author of CirceComposed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home.
This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative. Its characters are unforgettable, none more so than the complicated hero himself, a man of many disguises, many tricks, and many moods, who emerges in this version as a more fully rounded human being than ever before.
Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, Emily Wilson’s Odyssey sings with a voice that echoes Homer’s music; matching the number of lines in the Greek original, the poem sails along at Homer’s swift, smooth pace. A fascinating, informative introduction explores the Bronze Age milieu that produced the epic, the poem’s major themes, the controversies about its origins, and the unparalleled scope of its impact and influence.
3. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition)
Author: by Seamus Heaney
0393320979
English
256 pages
New York Times bestseller and winner of the Costa Book Award. Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel’s mother.
He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the poetry from deep beneath its surface.
Drawn to what he has called the “four-squareness of the utterance” in Beowulf and its immense emotional credibility, Heaney gives these epic qualities new and convincing reality for the contemporary reader.
4. The Iliad
Author: by Homer
0140275363
Penguin Classics
English
The great war epic of Western literature, translated by acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles, and featured in the Netflix series The OAA Penguin Classic Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War.
Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic.
He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls an astonishing performance. This Penguin Classics Deluxe edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper.
5. The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition
Author: by Jalal al-Din Rumi
0062509594
HarperOne
English
This revised and expanded edition of The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems. Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of readers, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi more popular than ever.
The Essential Rumi continues to be the bestselling of all Rumi books, and the definitive selection of his beautiful, mystical poetry.
6. The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Author: by Virgil
Penguin Classics
English
484 pages
From the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey comes a brilliant new translation of Virgil’s great epicFleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles’ mighty foe in the Iliad, begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome.
His voyage will take him through stormy seas, entangle him in a tragic love affair, and lure him into the world of the dead itself-all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods. Ultimately, he reaches the promised land of Italy where, after bloody battles and with high hopes, he founds what will become the Roman empire.
An unsparing portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and fate, the Aeneid redefines passion, nobility, and courage for our times. Robert Fagles, whose acclaimed translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were welcomed as major publishing events, brings the Aeneid to a new generation of readers, retaining all of the gravitas and humanity of the original Latin as well as its powerful blend of poetry and myth.
7. The Iliad of Homer
Author: by Richmond Lattimore
English
608 pages
0226470490
“Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus / and its devastation.” For sixty years, that’s how Homer has begun the Iliad in English, in Richmond Lattimore’s faithful translationthe gold standard for generations of students and general readers. This long-awaited new edition of Lattimore’s Iliad is designed to bring the book into the twenty-first centurywhile leaving the poem as firmly rooted in ancient Greece as ever.
Lattimore’s elegant, fluent verseswith their memorably phrased heroic epithets and remarkable fidelity to the Greekremain unchanged, but classicist Richard Martin has added a wealth of supplementary materials designed to aid new generations of readers. A new introduction sets the poem in the wider context of Greek life, warfare, society, and poetry, while line-by-line notes at the back of the volume offer explanations of unfamiliar terms, information about the Greek gods and heroes, and literary appreciation.
A glossary and maps round out the book. The result is a volume that actively invites readers into Homer’s poem, helping them to understand fully the worlds in which he and his heroes livedand thus enabling them to marvel, as so many have for centuries, at Hektor and Ajax, Paris and Helen, and the devastating rage of Achilleus.
8. The Epic of Gilgamesh
Author: by Anonymous
Penguin Classics
English
128 pages
N.K.Sandars’s landmark translation of one of the first and greatest works of Western literatureA Penguin ClassicGilgamesh, King of Uruk, and his companion Enkidu are the only heroes to have survived from the ancient literature of Babylon, immortalized in this epic poem that dates back to the third millennium BC.
Together they journey to the Spring of Youth, defeat the Bull of Heaven and slay the monster Humbaba. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh’s grief and fear of death are such that they lead him to undertake a quest for eternal life.
A timeless tale of morality, tragedy and pure adventure, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a landmark literary exploration of man’s search for immortality.N.K. Sandars’s lucid, accessible translation is prefaced by a detailed introduction that examines the narrative and historical context of the work.
In addition, there is a glossary of names and a map of the Ancient Orient. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines.
9. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Author: by Simon Armitage
English
208 pages
0393334155
The classic story that inspired the film starring Dev Patel and Alicia VikanderA medieval romancebut also an outlandish ghost story, a gripping morality tale and a weird thriller. I couldn’t put down Simon Armitage’s compulsively readable… Energetic, free-flowing, high-spirited version.
Edward Hirsch, New York Times Book ReviewOne of the founding stories of English literature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight narrates the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse who rudely interrupts Camelot’s Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager.
The virtuous Gawain accepts and decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. The following Yuletide, Gawain dutifully sets forth. His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dreamlike castle, a dire challenge answeredand a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.
10. 150 Most Famous Poems: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman and many more
Author: by Poetry House
Vervante (August 1, 2020)
English
350 pages
This is an updated and revised version (July 2021). This great English Poetry Anthology contains 150 of the Most Famous Poems of the last centuries. Dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, these famous poems remain Masterpieces of English Literature and continue to inspire and influence people all over the world.
This poetry compilation comes in the size of 8×10 inches (20.32 x 25. 4 cm) and is perfect as a gift for poetry lovers, literature students and teachers or to complete your own book collection. The following 35 poems are an excerpt of the book’s content:My Last Duchess by Robert BrowningThanatopsis by William Cullen BryantA Red, Red Rose by Robert BurnsShe Walks In Beauty by George Gordon ByronKubla Khan by Samuel Taylor ColeridgeI carry your heart with me by E.E.
CummingsBecause I could not stop for Death by Emily DickinsonHope is the thing with feathers by Emily DickinsonHoly Sonnet: 10 by John DonneThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. EliotThe Road Not Taken by Robert FrostStopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert FrostA friend’s greeting by Edgar Albert GuestElegy Written In A Country Churchyard by Thomas GrayAbou Ben Adhem by James Henry Leigh HuntOde On A Grecian Urn by John KeatsIf by Rudyard KiplingRecessional by Rudyard KiplingSonnet: 19.
11. Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined
Author: by Stephen Fry
11 hours and 1 minute
Stephen Fry
June 22, 2021
In this brilliant conclusion to his best-selling Mythos trilogy, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry retells the tale of the Trojan War. Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War.
Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor, and vivid emotion. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Helen, their lovers, and their mortal enemies all burn bright in Fry’s compelling prose. This volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.
Beloved author: Stephen Fry is an icon whose signature wit and mellifluous style makes this retelling utterly unique. Fans will love hearing his interpretation, whether they are familiar with the original Greek myths or not. Timeless Stories: For fans of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, Madeline Miller’s Circe or Song of Achilles, or Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls, this is the perfect next great book.
12. Theogony and Works and Days (Oxford World's Classics)
Author: by Hesiod
Oxford University Press
English
112 pages
This new, fully-annotated translation by a leading expert on Hesiodic poems combines accuracy with readability and includes an introduction and explanatory notes on these two works by one of the oldest known Greek poets. The Theogony contains a systematic genealogy and account of the strugglesof the gods, and the Works and Days offers a compendium of moral and practical advice for a life of honest husbandry.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expertintroductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
13. The Odyssey
Author: by Homer
English
515 pages
0374525749
The classic translation of The Odyssey, now in paperback. This edition also features a map, a Glossary of Names and Places, and Fitzgerald’s Postscript. Line drawings precede each book of the poem. Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey is the best and best-loved modern translation of the greatest of all epic poems.
Since 1961, this Odyssey has sold more than two million copies, and it is the standard translation for three generations of students and poets. Farrar, Straus and Giroux is delighted to publish a new edition of this classic work. Fitzgerald’s supple verse is ideally suited to the story of Odysseus’ long journey back to his wife and home after the Trojan War.
Homer’s tale of love, adventure, food and drink, sensual pleasure, and mortal danger reaches the English-language reader in all its glory. Of the many translations published since World War II, only Fitzgerald’s has won admiration as a great poem in English.
The noted classicist D.S. Carne-Ross explains the many aspects of its artistry in his Introduction, written especially for this new edition. Winner of the Bollingen Prize
14. The Canterbury Tales
Author: by Geoffrey Chaucer
Penguin Classics
English
504 pages
Nevill Coghill’s masterly and vivid modern English verse translation with all the vigor and poetry of Chaucer’s fourteenth-century Middle EnglishA Penguin ClassicIn The Canterbury Tales Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce.
A story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims from all walks of life is the occasion for a series of tales that range from the Knight’s account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of Bath’s Arthurian legend, to the ribald anecdotes of the Miller and the Cook.
Rich and diverse, The Canterbury Tales offer us an unrivalled glimpse into the life and mind of medieval England. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines.
15. Gilgamesh: A New English Version
Author: by Stephen Mitchell
English
290 pages
0743261690
Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature, but until now there has not been a version that is a superlative literary text in its own right. Acclaimed by critics and scholars, Stephen Mitchell’s version allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time, to see how startlingly beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is.
16. The Gift
Author: by Hafiz
Penguin Compass
English
352 pages
Chosen by author Elizabeth Gilbert as one of her ten favorite books, Daniel Ladinsky’s extraordinary renderings of 250 unforgettable lyrical poems by Hafiz, one of the greatest Sufi poets of all timeMore than any other Persian poeteven RumiHafiz expanded the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry.
Because his poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his beloved world, many have called Hafiz the Invisible Tongue. Indeed, Daniel Ladinsky has said that his work with Hafiz is an attempt to do the impossible: to render Light into wordsto make the Luminous Resonance of God tangible to our finite senses.
I ama hole in a flutethat the Christ’s breath movesthroughlisten to thismusic! With this stunning collection of Hafiz’s most intimate poems, Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in presenting the essence of one of Islam’s greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this master Sufi poet and spiritual teacher: encouragement, an audacious love that touches lives, profound knowledge, generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.
