Courses

We focus on—but do not limit ourselves to—the first book of Pope’s translation of the Iliad (there are 24 books). We try to determine the source(s) of Pope’s translation: i.e., what was before him when he translated? a Greek text? if so, which one? another translation or translations? if so, in what language(s), and which edition(s) of those translations did he use?—the first four weeks of class will be spent doing this. We compare Pope’s Iliad with many other English translations—translations from both before and after Pope’s time—the second four weeks pf the class will be spent doing this. We compare Pope’s Iliad with many other of Pope’s poems—the last weeks of the class will be spent doing this.