Rating: 
Summary: Dramatic and readable
Review: Robert Fagles has done an excellent job at giving life to this ancient 'song', an epic of war. If you read this translation aloud (which you should certainly do!!), you will see how he has tried to give it the feel of an oral tradition, as if a bard were truly singing it. If you want to read this for the excitement of it, and really get a feel for the life behind it, read this translation. There are some boring parts, but that's just how the Iliad is, and it has nothing to do with Fagles's translation.However, if you are in a reading group of some sort where you all have different translations, you will quickly realize upon comparison that Fagles's translation, especially compared to the Lattimore, leaves something to be desired in terms of its literal-ness (is that a word?). For studying the particulars, I would suggest the Lattimore translation instead, which makes more of an effort to be true to the original Greek, and is still interesting, but less readable and intense than the Fagles translation.
Rating:
Summary: Dramatic and readable
Review: Robert Fagles has done an excellent job at giving life to this ancient 'song', an epic of war. If you read this translation aloud (which you should certainly do!!), you will see how he has tried to give it the feel of an oral tradition, as if a bard were truly singing it. If you want to read this for the excitement of it, and really get a feel for the life behind it, read this translation. There are some boring parts, but that's just how the Iliad is, and it has nothing to do with Fagles's translation. However, if you are in a reading group of some sort where you all have different translations, you will quickly realize upon comparison that Fagles's translation, especially compared to the Lattimore, leaves something to be desired in terms of its literal-ness (is that a word?). For studying the particulars, I would suggest the Lattimore translation instead, which makes more of an effort to be true to the original Greek, and is still interesting, but less readable and intense than the Fagles translation.
Rating: 
Summary: wonderful modern verse
Review: Robert Fagles' translations of these two western classics capture the raw beauty of the epic poetry in extremely readable language. The stories of Achilles and Odysseus become remarkably accessible and the characters more human. Not an effort to read at all. I would highly recommend these two books as well as Fagles' translations of Sophocles' Theban plays.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful modern verse
Review: Robert Fagles' translations of these two western classics capture the raw beauty of the epic poetry in extremely readable language. The stories of Achilles and Odysseus become remarkably accessible and the characters more human. Not an effort to read at all. I would highly recommend these two books as well as Fagles' translations of Sophocles' Theban plays.
Rating:
Summary: A readable Iliad in modern idiom
Review: Robert Fagles's translation of Homer's Iliad is spiritually if not literally true to the original. Both versions repeat set speeches and descriptions in precisely the same words, and the translation exhibits a fairly regular rhythmic beat. But Homer's Greek was chanted, and the set passages were like refrains in which listeners could, if they chose, join in as a chorus. In English, the repetitions sometimes become tedious, especially when the same speech is given three times in two pages, as in the relay of Zeus's orders in Book II. Especially noteworthy is Bernard Knox's long and fascinating Introduction, which conveys Homer's grim attitude toward war, the interplay of divine and human will, and the ancient concepts of honor, courage, and virility in the face of the stark finality of death. Knox also includes a succinct explanation of the quantitative, rather than accentual, basis of Greek (and Latin) verse. For easy readability, Fagles's translation is without rival. For elegance and poetry, however, I recommend Richmond Lattimore's older but still gripping and fluent translation.
Rating:
Summary: Simply wonderful
Review: Simply wonderful Robert Fagles is the finest translator of Homer I have ever read. I have loved classical history and classical myths since I was seven; Robert Fagles' translation makes me feel as if I am reading these stories for the very first time. His poetical vision reawakens Homer; he makes the agony and glory of the Iliad and Odyssey a living, vibrant and above all human force. This is literature like a trumpet blast; these are words to wake the imagination and emotions. Few moments are more moving in any literature, than when Hector speaks to his beloved wife Andromache for what will be the last time. As he turns to his baby son Astynax, the child cries in terror at the crested helmet masking his father's face. Hector pulls the helmet away and laughs, and hugs his son. Hector will die that day. Andromache will end her days as a slave in a far country. Their son will be thrown to his death from the walls of burning Troy. All this the Greeks knew. Achilles is the great Greek hero. He needs a worthy enemy to kill, a warrior of skill and courage and resolve. Homer carefully depicts the doomed Hector as the greatest Trojan solider, a man with deep regard for his peoples' welfare, who inspires fear from his enemies, a leader of renown and a man for all men to honour. Yet Homer does more than this - he deliberately makes Hector human and every Greek who knew and loved the Iliad knew Hector to be human, to be a man like himself. Enemies in our century are demonised. They are communists, they are capitalists, they are Arabs or Moslems or the great Satan America. They are very carefully portrayed as inhuman (and undeserving of any humanity?) There is no sentimentality in the Iliad. It is brutal. Death upon death, the warriors fight for their honours and die alone and in pain. There is no afterlife here. A man lives on through his name only, and he buys his name with blood and fear. This is grim, not gratuitous - heroism is applauded but the sheer waste of war is laid bare. Yet - the enemy are never less than human, they are not despised for being "different". Individuals are honoured or loathed, but emotions rest with individuals not races or nations. I cannot convey in either spoken or written words just how much I recommend these translations to anyone, whether they are already familiar with the Iliad and Odyssey or are coming to Homer for the first time..............
Rating:
Summary: Good bargain on two classics
Review: The Iliad and Odyssey two-pack is a great value on two classics that everyone should have in their collection. The introductions present a great background of the epics and the translations themselves are excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Good bargain on two classics
Review: The Iliad and Odyssey two-pack is a great value on two classics that everyone should have in their collection. The introductions present a great background of the epics and the translations themselves are excellent.
Rating:
Summary: The Iliad And The Odyssey
Review: The iliad and the odyssey is one of the best books I have ever read I may be 13 years old but I understand what it means about the trojan war, how paris kidnapped helen the wife of the spartan king. I recomend this book a five star because it has a lot mythology and about all the great gods and why people play games to please the gods. I would say this book is a great book if you are learning about mythology!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: The Iliad translation is wonderful. My mouth was foaming as I felt Achilles' rage. I am not a frequent reader of the classics or poetry, but this one kept my attention and is one of the best books I have ever read. The tapestry was magnificent, I was constantly visualizing the fractal motifs within motifs, the tragedy of the moment within the tragedy of the episode within the tragedy of the war, within the tragedy of the condition. The translation gives you a palpable sense of the unseen and unstated surrounding the epic. I'll stop gushing, but I cannot imagine anyone not loving this one.
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