Gosh, I'm finding this tough going! I know it was of its time, but it's all so horrific, the whole idea of endless torture in ever more horrible ways. I read it way back in my twenties, and I had forgotten just how grim it is.
At the same times there are some beautiful images:
Quote:
I looked; and never shaft
So swift from bowstring sped through the thin air
As through those turbid waves a little craft
Came skimming toward us; ...
(VIII 13-16)
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My favourite bits are those where he uses an example from nature to illustrate what he is saying, such as:
Quote:
And now, as a hawk that has long hung waiting does -
When, without any sight at all of lure or prey,
She makes the falconer cry: "She stoops!" and goes
Dropping down weary, then suddenly wheels away
In a hundred circlings, and sets her far aloof
From her master, sullen and scornful - ...
(XVII 127-133)
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(I'm reading the Dorothy Sayers translation.)
Is it just me? How are you all going?