07-01-2000, 04:15 PM | #1 |
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The Iliad / The Odyssey - Homer
Finally! After having read abridgments, simplifications and paraphrases of the tales in these works since I was about five, I got the full translation!
And I also noticed that there's no thread about it here... so I thought I'd start one... |
07-01-2000, 06:57 PM | #2 |
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Re: The Iliad / The Odyssey - Homer
Well we had to read what I assume was a simplification of it in school, and I found it incredibly dull and boring. LotR is one of the few books from about 50 years ago or earlier than I don't find boring
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07-01-2000, 09:42 PM | #3 |
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Re: The Iliad / The Odyssey - Homer
Hey wait, does that mean you found the Oz books boring?
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07-01-2000, 10:05 PM | #4 |
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Re: The Iliad / The Odyssey - Homer
No, I liked those. But I find most "classics" to be tedious. (Dickens, Twain, etc.)
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07-02-2000, 03:33 AM | #5 |
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Re: The Iliad / The Odyssey - Homer
What about Shakespeare... I think we have a shakespeare fan among us, don't remember his name...
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07-02-2000, 05:35 AM | #6 |
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Re: classics
we have several shakespeare fans - i think Elanor & Hernalt are, & i bet we have more.
there's this attitude around most "classics" that presents them as old & stuffy, & implies that they should be read not for enjoyment but "because all educated people must read this book." the only "classics" i've really enjoyed are those that i picked up & read on my own, or were presented to the class as "just another book" & not as a "classic". aryne * |
07-02-2000, 09:29 AM | #7 |
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Re: classics
I read the Iliad when I was 12 years old and I liked it.
arynetrek, I agree with you completely. I read a lot of classics just because I want to and I enjoy them very much. |
07-02-2000, 01:46 PM | #8 |
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Re:
Haven't read the Iliad or the Odyssey (Those are on my want to read lists though) I read summaries of both in Edith Hamiliton's Mythology Book though. As for Classics I love them and the Literature section is usually where I look for books to buy. Right now I am reading Crime and Punishment. I haven't really gotten into it yet but I am only 60 pages along.
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07-02-2000, 03:08 PM | #9 |
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Re: Re:
Yeah, I think everyone knows the stories contained in the Odyssey, but I just didn't like the thick, dull, way in which the stories were presented in the actual Odyssey
I found Shakespeare to be unbearably boring also, except when it was "translated from English into English" Makes me feel a little stupid, since common people a long time ago understood it, but I'm one of the best readers in my school so I guess it represents a downward trend in readers |
07-02-2000, 07:59 PM | #10 |
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Re: Re:
I like reading old English. I think it is very beautiful though it took some time to get into. The same was true when I read the Iliad.
After reading Shakespeare during my second year in high school I thought he was very boring. It took Star Wars discussions on the JC and a few Kenneth Branagh (sp? ) films to get me interested in reading his works again. |
07-02-2000, 08:30 PM | #11 |
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Old English
That's impressive, emilsson, especially considering you're Swedish
I guess what it comes down to is in this age where I can get information instantly over the Internet or by watching television, books that take a long time to get interesting just aren't worth most people's time. A lot of my friends couldn't even get into The Hobbit, let alone LotR |
07-06-2000, 03:42 AM | #12 |
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Re: Old English
the first Shakespeare i read was Midsummer Night's Dream, & i loved it. so now i expect shakespeare to be good, or at least worth reading.
aryne * |
07-08-2000, 04:41 PM | #13 |
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Re: Old English
i personally don't think the common people back in the bard's time understood what the actors were saying....who goes around speaking like that?? correct me if i'm wrong, but i think that the people who attended shakespeare's play were not as highly educated as he was...they were mostly poor to middle class people out to have a fun time for a couple hours. hence, the dramatic content in the plots and the numerous "funny" scenes in his plays.
::we now return you to our regularly scheduled topic:: i cannot stand the odyssey. i've read all versions of it, prose and poetry, abridged and unabridged, and i have come to the conclusion that odyseus is a pig. i dunno how he got out of not being turned into one. i like the aenied better. |
07-08-2000, 09:25 PM | #14 |
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Re: Old English
Though Shakespeare vocabulary is the largest you can find in English literature, i donñt think we can say that his plays were in a too "cult language".
i´ll say more: if now we may find it difficult to understand is mostly because he often introduced vulgar terms. The rest is not that difficult... BTW, Shakespeare link in my sig hmmm, and i agree about Odissey: too boring (save perhaps if you can read Greek). But i´m often tempted to read the Aeneid |
08-19-2000, 03:36 PM | #15 |
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Re: Old English
I haven't read either the Iliad or the Odessey yet. I do know that I missed out on reading the Oddessey in ninth grade simply because the class I was in was the only one not to read it, though. Add those to the books I want to read but haven't gotten to it yet.
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08-20-2000, 07:28 PM | #16 |
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Re: Old English
I read the Odyssey in school and loved it! And I had a veeery boooring teacher, too! I especially liked the scenes where they had the gods talking in that high, noble speech. I love Shakespeare for the same reason. Elizabethan English is so beautiful, even if you have to read the same passage several times to understand it. I was in A Midsummer Night's Dream as the voice of Titania, and that was one of my favorite productions.
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08-22-2000, 09:24 PM | #17 |
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Re: Old English
Both the Illiad and the Odyssey are great stories. To read them all the way through in one sitting can be a bit much, but I enjoyed it at the time. Now, how many of you have read other classics, such as Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance? Great book with a great intro with War and Peace. Awesome. But back to the Illiad and the Odyssey, I think that is what brought me to my great love of Greek Mythology. They have some really interesting stories in there that are pretty good to read.
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