Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'd love to have a properly read audio version of it, but I've not come across one. I'm hopeless at reading Greek poetry aloud - it's a skill all of its own. In order to be able to read it aloud, you need to be able to "scan" the hexameter verse and work out where the long and short syllables lie. I can scan Greek poetry on paper, but it takes me 5 minutes to do each line. My Greek isn't even close to good enough to be able to do it in "real time", which is what you need to be able to do to read it aloud.
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I get what you are saying about oral poetry, not to mention translations of prose works generally.
The fact of the matter is that most of us just have to do the best with what we can get; and many, many translations (true to the original or not) are still great books in any language.
We can even get something valuable out of written English works originally meant as oral poetry - Under Milk Wood is one that comes to mind - despite the fact that the spoken version is even more magical.