Description
Horace is a great poet, much loved and imitated in the past, and in recent years much better understood as a result of the learned commentaries of Nisbet and Hubbard (1970, 1978). and Syndikus (1972, 1973). Yet today he is little read. This is partly because he had never been translated into English which is both close to the Latin and readable. The aim of this book is to provide such a translation and support it by a basic commentary which will help newcomers to Horace, whether or not they know any Latin, to understand how the poetry works. It should also stimulate and provoke students of Latin and of Roman history by propounding interpretations which are not always in line with current orthodoxies.
New, accurate translation of a core undergraduate text
About the Author
Editor of Virgil: The Aeneid (Pengiun Classics, 1991), and author of Reading Horace (Edinburgh UP, 1967), The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius (Edinburgh UP, 1969, reprint Bristol CP, 1994)
Reviews
David West takes a refreshing approach insofar as academic questions are sobered by looking at how the poems work as poems. * Quadrant No.405 *
In this volume, West has built upon and surpassed his earlier work ... It is what we might call the genre of this book which makes it such an important contribution to the study of Latin poetry ... West's commentary should stimulate much fruitful discussion both among Latin scholars and students. * New England Classical Journal *
This book will be needed by all who know Horace. ... can new readers start here? Resoundingly, yes. They will gain a sound idea of what Horace means and how his poetry works, and these are achievements not to be obtained from other translations. s
Professor West takes us closer to understanding his ancient master works. This may not be fashionable literary theory. It is better than that: to help us to understand a great poem is an act of creative poetry itself. * The Times *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198721604
Author Horace
Format Hardback
Page Count 216
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 145mm * 22mm
New, accurate translation of a core undergraduate text
About the Author
Editor of Virgil: The Aeneid (Pengiun Classics, 1991), and author of Reading Horace (Edinburgh UP, 1967), The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius (Edinburgh UP, 1969, reprint Bristol CP, 1994)
Reviews
David West takes a refreshing approach insofar as academic questions are sobered by looking at how the poems work as poems. * Quadrant No.405 *
In this volume, West has built upon and surpassed his earlier work ... It is what we might call the genre of this book which makes it such an important contribution to the study of Latin poetry ... West's commentary should stimulate much fruitful discussion both among Latin scholars and students. * New England Classical Journal *
This book will be needed by all who know Horace. ... can new readers start here? Resoundingly, yes. They will gain a sound idea of what Horace means and how his poetry works, and these are achievements not to be obtained from other translations. s
Professor West takes us closer to understanding his ancient master works. This may not be fashionable literary theory. It is better than that: to help us to understand a great poem is an act of creative poetry itself. * The Times *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198721604
Author Horace
Format Hardback
Page Count 216
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 145mm * 22mm
