Aeneid Book Vi: A New Verse Translation: Bilingual Edition

A masterpiece from one of the greatest poets of the century In a momentous publication, Seamus HeaneyÆs translation of Book VI of the Aeneid, VirgilÆs epic poem composed sometime between 29 and 19 BC, follows the hero, Aeneas, on his descent into the underworld. In Stepping Stones, a book of interviews conducted by Dennis OÆDriscoll, Heaney acknowledged the significance of the poem to his writing, noting that ôthereÆs one Virgilian journey that has indeed been a constant presence, and that is AeneasÆs venture into the underworld. The motifs in Book VI have been in my head for yearsùthe golden bough, CharonÆs barge, the quest to meet the shade of the father.ö In this new translation, Heaney employs the same deft handling of the original combined with the immediacy of language and the sophisticated poetic voice that were on show in his translation of Beowulf, a reimagining which, in the words of James Wood, ôcreated something imperishable and great that is stainlessùstainless, because its force as poetry makes it untouchable by the claw of literalism: it lives singly, as an English-language poem.ö

• | Author: Seamus Heaney
• | Publisher: Farrar, Straus And Giroux
• | Publication Date: May 16, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 112 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback/Poetry
• | ISBN-10: 0374537046
• | ISBN-13: 9780374537043