Having just finished reading Robert Fagles’s translation of the Iliad, I remember why I’ve only read it twice before. During college, I twice read Robert Fitzgerald’s translation. His stilted language made a difficult book almost impenetrable. Even with the mastery of prose and poetry that Fagles brings, I don’t believe this work can be saved. The back cover of Fagles’s translation bills it as the world’s greatest war story. I do protest that and let me approach that in two parts.

Greatest story? It is slow and plodding, even though it starts crisply and ends wisely. The intervening books of slaughter and cataloging, while attempting to show the scale and scope of the Trojan battle, fail to keep me engaged. This epic could have been 1/4 the size, perhaps less. The book opens with “Rage– Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles…” However, after a brief display of his hubris and childish behavior, we barely see him in the next 16 chapters. The highlight of the story is the final chapter, where King Priam comes to the Greek camp to petition Achilles for the body of the King’s son, Hector. In this short section, humanity wells to the top, in the actions of Priam and partially with Achilles.

As for the Iliad being the greatest war story, the depiction of battles have been sanitized and glorified. Death is vicious, but quick; horrible, yet honorable; driven by gods, not chosen by men. War is seen as a means to an end, and that end is revenge or greed. If one wants to read a great war story, turn to Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. That takes off the rose-colored glasses and adds chop to the wine dark seas.

If one is to read Homer, and I think one should, turn to the Odyssey, especially Fagles’s translation of it. There is a book that is the height of epic poetry. It is a good story, well-told, that bears many lessons for yesterday, today and tomorrow. As I’ve said in the past, the key to life is the journey itself, not the battles or end result.

Epilogue: Sadly, Robert Fagles has left us, so we must engage with him now through his works. And even though I didn’t enjoy the tale of the rage of Achilles, Fagles’s telling is phenomenal and without parallel.