(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best ancient & classical poetry books

Robert Graves' 2 volume The Greek Myths is comprehensive, but there's a catch: Graves has arranged and chosen his version of the myths in order to facilitate a kind of narrative continuity that's not particularly true to the way that the Greeks understood their myths. Karl Kerenyi and Carl Kerenyi's The Greek Gods and The Greek Heroes are closer to the source material, and will give you a better sense of the variety and disagreements involved. Ultimately, though, it's a matter of preference: Do you want narrative sweep, or fidelity to tradition?

Alternately, you could go back to the sources themselves. Ovid's Metamorphoses is basically a treasury of Greco-Roman myth. Again, there's a catch: Ovid's theme is that of things transforming into something else (hence the title), so there's a definite bias in favor of myths that suit that motif. That said, Ovid is also as close as you're going to get to the original form of a lot of Greco-Roman myths, so it's hard to go wrong there.

If you really want to do some heavy lifting on the Greco-Roman myths, get a copy of Pausanius' Guide to Greece, Vol. I and Vol. II. This is basically a travelogue of Greece, written for the Roman Emperor, and it lists in detail most of the locations associated with Greek myths and legends, and gives some detail on most of the lesser known ones. There's a lot to sift through here, and you'll probably want to have an Atlas of the Ancient World on hand to get a sense of where he's talking about at any given time, so I definitely don't recommend starting out here, but if you're looking for really in-depth source material, this is the place to go.

For the Norse myths, there's the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, as well as a slew of sagas that are worth looking into. On of the most famous is certainly The Nibelungenlied, on which Wagner based his [Ring Cycle]() (you know, "Ride of the Valkyries," and all that), which was the basis for much of Lord of the Rings. Personally, my favorite of the sagas I've read so far is the Volsungs.

For the Sumerians, the obvious starting point is Gilgamesh. Our sources are pretty fragmented, and there are editions that reflect that fragmentation, but for pure readability, I suggest the Herbert Mason retelling. Or, if you're really into it, get both and compare. The go-to author for Sumerian myth and religion in general is Samuel Noah Kramer; his book Sumerian Mythology is as good a general survey as you're likely to find, particularly if you're interested in the archeological method behind our knowledge of the Sumerians.

What else? For the Egyptians, E. A. Budge is your man. Dover Books in general has a good series of older, public domain works on mythology, including books on Japanese and Chinese mythology. I wish I had some sources to give you on meso-American or African myth, but those are areas of inquiry I'm just delving into myself. But then, you're probably overwhelmed as it is.

Good luck.

I'm no expert on Sumerian mythology, but I would highly recommend the Epic of Gilgamesh. It's a touching tale about the quest for immortality and it's pretty easy to understand.
Here is a link to buy the E-book:
https://www.amazon.com/Epic-Gilgamesh-Classics-Penguin-ebook/dp/B002RI9VZS

This book. It is a pretty good translation and the commentary is very good. Worth checking out.

Sky Above, Great Wind is a good introduction. There are fun anecdotes about his life in the back of the book.

Go straight to one of the sources: Ovid's Metamorphoses. There are a lot of good translations, but I recently read this one and enjoyed it. (Or you can get an out-of-copyright translation for free or dirt cheap.)

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


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>$5,250 copy of “Complete and Truly Outstanding Works by Homer.”

Protip Mizzou: You can buy a copy of the complete works of Homer on Amazon for about $16. If you shop around at thrift stores, you could probably get them for less than $1 (thought you might have to have them as separate volumes).

I would start with Ovid, he writes about Roman myth which is practically the same. Also read some Homer. I can recommend more books when I get home.

Edit: I would start off with Mythology by Edith Hamilton. This will give you a good run down of who is who and she gives you the Greek and the Roman names. I would then move on to read the three classic epics by Homer and Virgil. Finally I would move to Ovid and read Metamorphoses. From there I would read what ever you can get your hands on.

This is one of the most copied stories there is. There are dozens and dozens of versions of it.

As someone else said, "O brother where art thou" is a retelling of the Odyssey, but it is fairly abstracted away. For someone who didn't already know the story of the Odyssey, many of the allusions and "retelling" you might not be able to notice.

There is also the classic Joyce novel Ulysses, now a classic of English literature on its own.

Walcott's Omeros

Marget Atwood wrote the "Penelopiad" which retells the story from the wife's perspective.

A few others : Cold Mountain, Big Fish (both the book and the movie), Ice Age : Continental Drift, Ulysses 31 (Anime),


There are also more straight "updated translations"
https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Dramatic-Retelling-Homers-Epic/dp/0393330818

I recommend any of the penguin classics! Here is one I bought from a local bookstore in New Delhi: https://www.amazon.com/Speaking-Siva-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140442707


I think reading good translations of ancient poetry is the way to go.

I've self published poetry. Here's the link.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071RNQPJC
I've had more to say, but logging out twice accidentally and losing what I wrote here at 3am has me annoyed. I was wondering if anyone has any success stories about self promoting their work and getting noticed. Not big as Jk Rowling but at least building a foundation where writing actually felt worthwhile.

Thank you for your time.

Without knowing you both very well, I doubt there's anything much that we can advise you here. For example I and many folk like Rumi but you & she could dislike that, who knows! Go with what your heart & instinct tell you.

Also if not interested in long comentaries but just a good English translation [George Thompson's] (https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-New-Translation/dp/0865477442) might do the job.

Thanks, John. A good suggestion is never late!
I have recently acquired this book with all of Alexander Pope's works and so far I am loving it. I'll read the rape of the lock immediately, thought, since you were so kind as to link it here and since I don't know when I'll get to it an the book I have mentioned.

Just one question. It seems you mentioned two more books (40 sonnets and Shakespeare's sonnets), but both link to the same page. Was that intentional?

Mi-am propus sa citesc lista lui Neil deGrasse Tyson. Chiar mi-am downloadat versiunea epub a bibliei. Din pacate, e nevoie de mai multa liniste si rabdare decat am anticipat.

Ca propunere recomand "The Gift" by Hafez. Sunt cam 1/3 in carte si este superba.

Coleman Barks is the most popular one but also the least reliable translation.

You can check out Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi by W.M. Thackston Jr.

Also, Selected Poems of Rumi (Dover Thrift Editions)

It's all ryokan all the time. It's 140 of his poems as well as some of his art and some stories and history about him.

The Fagles translation was recommended to me by a friend who is a fan of them. I picked up this box set from Amazon about a year ago and have neglected to get around to reading it. It's been far too long since I've revisited some classics, and hit up some that I've never read before. Last time I read Homer was in high school.

My extended list would see some Shakespeare, Chaucer, Sturgeon, Van Vogt, Bester, Dick, and more Neal Stephenson in there.

I hear that there indeed is a book you want. Might wanna check if this is it: https://www.amazon.com/Kalevala-Epic-Finnish-People-English/dp/9511101374

I think Asian poetry should be your go to for this.
Chinese:
[Hanshan] (https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Mountain-Mandarin-Chinese-English/dp/1556591403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481519439&sr=8-1&keywords=hanshan)
[Libai and Dufu] (https://www.amazon.com/Li-Po-Tu-Translated-Introduction/dp/0140442723/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481519506&sr=8-3&keywords=li+po)
[Tao Yuanming] (https://www.amazon.com/Selected-Poems-Tao-Chien/dp/1556590563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481519544&sr=8-1&keywords=Tao+qian)
and Japanese:
[Saigyo] (https://www.amazon.com/Saigyo/dp/023107493X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481519595&sr=8-1&keywords=Saigyo)
[Basho] (https://www.amazon.com/Narrow-Road-Interior-Writings-Shambhala/dp/1570627169/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481519621&sr=8-3&keywords=Basho)
[Ryokan] (https://www.amazon.com/Dewdrops-Lotus-Leaf-Poems-Ryokan/dp/1590301080/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1481519642&sr=8-4&keywords=Ryokan)

For a start:

• The Nibelungenlied / The Völsungsaga
  
• The Poetic Edda
  
• The Prose Edda
  
• The Kalevala
  
• The Mabinogion
  
• The Four Ancient Books of Wales
  
• Táin Bó Cúailnge
  
• Early Irish Myths and Legends
  
• Historia Regum Brittaniae