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$250.00
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The famous god whose legs are bent replied,
‘Take heart, dispel these worries from your mind.
I wish that I could hide him far away
from cruel death when harsh fate comes for him
as easily as I can make him armor
so marvelous that any human being
would be astonished at the sight.’
Emily Wilson opens the introduction to her thrilling new translation of The Iliad by explaining that it “tells two interwoven stories across its twenty-four books. The first describes the overwhelming anger of a Greek warrior, Achilles, and its catastrophic consequences. The second tell how a brave Trojan warrior, Hector, leave his city and family to attack the Greek invaders—and returns home only after death. […] The beautiful word minunthadios, ‘short-lived,’ is used for both Achilles and Hector, and applies to all of us. We die too soon, and there is no adequate recompense for the terrible, inevitable loss of life. Yet through poetry, the words, actions, and feelings of some long-ago brief lives may be remembered even three thousand years later.”
In this class, we will gain a better understanding of not only these two interwoven stories, but also what the epic poem has to say about its sprawling cast of humans and gods, fate, power, war, love, justice, and more. Focus will be given to the narrative, poetic technique, and the translation itself. We will cover 4 books of the epic per class over the course of 6 weeks and supplement our discussion with the following incisive secondary sources:
“The Iliad, or The Poem of Force” by Simone Weil
“The Iliad as Ethical Thinking: Politics, Pity, And The Operation Of Esteem” by Dean Hammer
“The Poetics of Loss in Greek Epic” by Sheila Murnaghan
“‘Bitch that I Am’: Self-Blame and Self- Assertion in the Iliad” by Ruby Blondell
Ben Pease is an epic poem enthusiast and has previously read the Robert Fitzgerald translations of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Aeneid. On receiving Emily Wilson’s translations for a Christmas present, he thought it would be a worthwhile venture to start a class about the new version. Much of his work is heavily inspired by the epic form, including Chateau Wichman (Big Lucks, 2017), a book-length narrative poem with a cast of fallible gods and humans, and Furniture in Space (factory hollow press), selections from an epic poem inspired by Pease’s hometown friends making movies, and a psychic who gets involved with them in order to have his ultimate vision. Pease is also interested in the art of translation and is curious to see how the new translation compares to others!
Virtual classes are usually based on video conferencing. At the moment we use Zoom. Instructors may utilize email as well as the specific ‘class page’ to share materials.
Class pages are accessible to students through their account page. CLICK HERE to visit your account.
Each class is different, and Ruth Stone House allows a wide degree of freedom to instructors as to how they run their classes. If you miss a class or have technical problems you can request a video link to the class you missed.
Technical requirements:
In order to attend a Zoom based class, make sure you meet these technical requirements: Click here
We also require that you have access to email service to use Ruth Stone House Classroom.
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FInancial aid is applied for on a class by class basis. Not all classes offer financial aid. There is a limited amount of funding available, and aid is awarded in the order received.
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