Book Review : The Odyssey By Homer : Oxford Classics

“Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share.”

" some things you will think of yourself,...some things God will put into your mind” 

After much study of translations to buy, I chose the prose translation of Walter Shewring, by Oxford. There were choices between E V Rieu , Samuel Butler and Shewring. After comparing the three, I found this translation to be most poetic and accurate. The footnotes were very helpful.The story itself is great, one can learn a lot in dealing with the challenges Odysseus faced on his way. One feels a lot of admiration for the goddess of the gleaming of the eyes- "Pallas Athena"."The Odyssey can divided into two cycles. The first twelve books relates the journey away from Ithaca, while the rest 12 books relates the returing bak to Ithaca. If one has studied the Cosmic Clock Astrology, the first 12 books and the next 12 can be compared with the Clock. The 13th book signifies the 1 o' clock line relating to God Love, where we can find this aspect of God in this chapter."

Oxford World Classics is to be congratulated by keeping Professor Shewring's splendid translation of Homer's "The Odyssey" in print. I  recommend it highly.