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"The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns"

Why does Hamlet insist that no traveler returns when his father has already, so to speak, returned from that country?

I read Paradise Lost when I was 17 and not the best reader of verse at all. I actually found it easier to read than Shakespeare and it taught me to listen to the metre in verse, something for which I...

Thanks for the help guys, I'll look more into those translations.

Can you elaborate more on why you prefer or do not prefer the translations you have cited?

Anyone clued up on what are the leading translations of The Divine Comedy and The Metamorphoses? And any recommendations in light of ones you have read?
I'm interested in reading the Longfellow...

How far removed is classical Greek from the modern Greek used today? I want to learn Greek in order to read the classics and I wonder how easy it would then be for me to read modern Greek? Or vice...

Thanks mortal terror, I'll look into it

My favorites are the Little Girl poems. Being, A Little and, The Little Girl Lost and of course The Little Girl found. I find them quite enchanting and beautiful.

I have read that C. S. Lewis held the belief that Milton's Paradise lost was in line with scripture, contrary to the belief that Satan is glorified in the form of an anti-hero. I'm really eager to...

Thanks for the link Mutatis.

I'm looked to Homer for a literary experience rather than a historical study so I think I'll stay away from Pope's. Thanks StLukesguild! Why do you say no to Chapman?

Hi there,

I'm looking to read the Iliad and Odyssey for the first time and want to make sure that I read the right translation. It seems as though there is a sea of translations and hence I know...

It's been posted already (naturally, considering its brilliance), but you cannot go by the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, it is one of my favorite poems period.

I quickly scanned the posted but forgive me if this has already been posted.

Crossing the Bar by Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of...

from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Canto IV


CLXXIX.

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean - roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin - his...

from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Byron

XI.

His house, his home, his heritage, his lands,
The laughing dames in whom he did delight,
Whose large blue eyes, fair locks, and snowy...

Oh, It seems like I made a typo on the title of this thread. I meant to name it "Goethe vs. Marlowe - A Faustian Debate" NOT "Goethe vs. Faust - A Faustian Debate". I'm sure you already realised...

Indeed, Goethe displays some beautiful verse craftmanship. The translation I read I suspected wasn't too well done (firstly it was in prose) and that quote only reassures me of that notion.
...

They are science fiction by genre. I haven't read them myself so I'm not qualified to comment one their merits or faults, but a close friend of mine sings many praises of them. I'd say give them a go.

I'd like to open a thread devoted to the discussion and debate of Marlowe and Goethe's renditions of the story of Faust.

I am aware, this debate is age old, but I find it scintillating nonetheless...

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

Did the words eye and symmetry rhyme when said aloud when Blake wrote...

I read that you would be hard pressed to find strict meter in Chauncer's Canterbury Tales (written near the end of the 14th century), simply due to the change in the English language over time -...

Wow, I must remark, I am delighted witht he discussion and dialouge running through this thread. By all means, continue, and I shall read/observe - for I am out of my league haha.

I've often pondered the reason why Russian Literature is so prominent on the stage of world literature. I do not wonder on account of not think it worthy of such acclimation, rather, I just wonder...

Thanks everyone for your help, it is much appreciated :)
I look forward to working my way through all your suggestions.

Prendrelemick, I like both the poetry and the dramatic/narative aspect of...

Read 'the Rime of the ancient Mariner' today, loved it!
It does seem very likely that Wilde drew fromt this poem, it does bare similarites.
Thanks for the suggestions - plan to look into the others...

Interesting.

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. I didn't mean similar in the specifics of the story, rather, length and style. So something not of epic proportion rather around the 25 page...