As previously noted, my stylistic intent in writing an epic poem about Pyrrho and Alexander the Great is to have it sound as if translated into modern English iambic pentameter from the ancient Greek dactylic hexameter of a Hellenistic author deeply influenced by Homer. To do this convincingly, I need to have a firm grasp on Homeric style. Here Matthew Arnold's 1861 lectures "On Translating Homer" are invaluable. He identifies four key features of the Homeric poems:
Arnold helpfully contrasts these qualities of Homer against other epic poets (say, Milton) and adduces numerous examples where translators of Homer into English (Pope, Chapman, etc.) have gone astray in one respect or another. In my experience, the translator who has best rendered Homeric style in English translation is the incomparable Richmond Lattimore, whose Iliad I'm now revisiting for the second time this year (to be followed by a second re-reading of the Odyssey). Lattimore's versions are simply masterful and I'm learning a great deal from close study of his work.
As to my "Pyrrhiad": to date I've written only ~300 lines, so don't get too excited yet!
(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)
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