lark’s review of The Iliad > Likes and Comments
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I really loved the Fagels too when I read it, but Mendelsohn has some magical solutions, like, “when morning born dawn touched the sky with her fingertips of rose” so exactly the action of sunrise. And giving himself each line with a longer meter, keeping the enjambment so present, I think that if someone were asking me which to read I might say Mendelsohn now.
Jenna wrote: "I really loved the Fagels too when I read it, but Mendelsohn has some magical solutions, like, “when morning born dawn touched the sky with her fingertips of rose” so exactly the action of sunrise...."
I just read Mendelsohn’s Odyssey and it was amazing. I’ll try his Iliad soon. Thanks Jenna
Yes - Robert Fagles - he's the translator in my World Masterpieces edition. Generally considered the gold standard.
Yay! I tried several translations and his suited me the best. His Odyssey too was very readable.
Ah, sorry I wasn’t paying enough attention, Mendelsohn hasn’t translated the Iliad although he has written about it a lot. I haven’t read any other Illiad but Fagels’ - I’ve read both of them for the Odyssey and they are quite similar actually in many ways, and I had so loved Fagels that I thought I would prefer it still, but in the end I’m not sure I do.
Hi Jenna. For me Mendelsohn’s Odyssey vs. Fagles’s, Mendelsohn's feels more elegaic, and like it has more poetry in it, vs. Fagles, which feels like it has more momentum.
I’ve read a ridiculous number of Iliad translations! Starting with Lattimore in college.
i have been recommended by several people stanley lombardo. any thoughts on him ?
Jim, I like Lombardo a lot! He vernacular-ized and left out a lot of the boring bits though which kind of changes the reading experience. Lombardo even wrote a version called “The Essential Iliad” which left out the “Catalog of Ships,” a longish list of all the armies that came to aid Agamemnon. I kind of like the catalog of ships myself. It reminds me of the terrible waste of war, which is the core theme if the poem imo.
I do love the audio version of Lombardo reading his own translation. It has Susan Sarandon on it too, reading small interstitial introductions to each section.
Actually come to think of it a huge part of the reason I love Fagles’s Iliad best is because of the amazing rendition Derek Jacobi made of the Fagles translation in the audiobook. I can hear his voice in my ear right now. Incredible work.
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Jenna
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Oct 29, 2026 06:42PM
I really loved the Fagels too when I read it, but Mendelsohn has some magical solutions, like, “when morning born dawn touched the sky with her fingertips of rose” so exactly the action of sunrise. And giving himself each line with a longer meter, keeping the enjambment so present, I think that if someone were asking me which to read I might say Mendelsohn now.
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Jenna wrote: "I really loved the Fagels too when I read it, but Mendelsohn has some magical solutions, like, “when morning born dawn touched the sky with her fingertips of rose” so exactly the action of sunrise...."I just read Mendelsohn’s Odyssey and it was amazing. I’ll try his Iliad soon. Thanks Jenna
Yes - Robert Fagles - he's the translator in my World Masterpieces edition. Generally considered the gold standard.
Yay! I tried several translations and his suited me the best. His Odyssey too was very readable.
Ah, sorry I wasn’t paying enough attention, Mendelsohn hasn’t translated the Iliad although he has written about it a lot. I haven’t read any other Illiad but Fagels’ - I’ve read both of them for the Odyssey and they are quite similar actually in many ways, and I had so loved Fagels that I thought I would prefer it still, but in the end I’m not sure I do.
Hi Jenna. For me Mendelsohn’s Odyssey vs. Fagles’s, Mendelsohn's feels more elegaic, and like it has more poetry in it, vs. Fagles, which feels like it has more momentum. I’ve read a ridiculous number of Iliad translations! Starting with Lattimore in college.
i have been recommended by several people stanley lombardo. any thoughts on him ?
Jim, I like Lombardo a lot! He vernacular-ized and left out a lot of the boring bits though which kind of changes the reading experience. Lombardo even wrote a version called “The Essential Iliad” which left out the “Catalog of Ships,” a longish list of all the armies that came to aid Agamemnon. I kind of like the catalog of ships myself. It reminds me of the terrible waste of war, which is the core theme if the poem imo. I do love the audio version of Lombardo reading his own translation. It has Susan Sarandon on it too, reading small interstitial introductions to each section.
Actually come to think of it a huge part of the reason I love Fagles’s Iliad best is because of the amazing rendition Derek Jacobi made of the Fagles translation in the audiobook. I can hear his voice in my ear right now. Incredible work.