Having withstood the test of time and considered the first great work of the Western tradition, The Odyssey can do well enough without introduction.
This translation is among the most accurate on the market. Classics professors have urged students to read this translation, the best English source available. Despite the usual popularity of the Fitzgerald translation, the Pope version provides a more literal translation with consistent themes of word choice running throughout. They put their hands to the good things that lay ready before them, for example, will come up over and over again because, quite simply, the phrase comes up over and over again. And we have the same adjectives consistently before each of the major players: resourceful Odysseus, thoughtful Telemachos, and circumspect Penelope, along with the gray-eyed Athene. Pope explains how he chooses to translate the work, and his translation is a literal work of a genius. He retains the lyric style in form throughout the work, aligning this translation even more closely with the original text.
For those who desire the most accurate translation of this great work, this Pope translation of The Odyssey of Homer is highly recommended.
