Aeneid Book VI: A New Verse Translation

Aeneid Book VI: A New Verse Translation

<p><b>A masterpiece from one of the greatest poets of the century</b></p><p>In a momentous publication, Seamus Heaney's translation of Book VI of the <i>Aeneid</i>, Virgil's epic poem composed sometime between 29 and 19 BC, follows the hero, Aeneas, on his descent into the underworld. In <i>Stepping Stones</i>, a book of interviews conducted by Dennis O'Driscoll, Heaney acknowledged the significance of the poem to his writing, noting that "there's one Virgilian journey that has indeed been a constant presence, and that is Aeneas's venture into the underworld. The motifs in Book VI have been in my head for years--the golden bough, Charon's barge, the quest to meet the shade of the father."</p><p>In this new translation, Heaney employs the same deft handling of the original combined with the immediacy of language and sophisticated poetic voice as was on show in his translation of <i>Beowulf</i>, a reimagining which, in the words of James Wood, "created something imperishable and great that is stainless--stainless, because its force as poetry makes it untouchable by the claw of literalism: it lives singly, as an English language poem."</p>