Odyssey of Homer
The Odyssey (1910 Edition)
The Odyssey of Homer, rendered into English prose by Samuel Henry Butcher and Andrew Lang, stands as one of the most enduring translations of classical literature in the early 20th century.
First published in 1879 and revised in later editions, the 1910 issue reflects the translators’ mature scholarship and literary sensibility. Their aim was not merely to reproduce Homer’s words but to preserve the simplicity, dignity, and rhythm of the original Greek epic in a form accessible to modern readers.
The Odyssey itself is a tale of homecoming and endurance, recounting the perilous journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy. Unlike the martial vigor of the Iliad, this poem emphasizes themes of cunning, resilience, hospitality, and the testing of human character. It is both an adventure narrative and a meditation on the values of civilization versus savagery, loyalty versus betrayal, and the longing for peace after war.
Butcher and Lang’s introduction situates Homer within the oral tradition of epic poetry, noting the poem’s composite nature and its reflection of early Greek society. They stress the Odyssey’s unique tone: more romantic, more domestic, and more varied in setting than the Iliad. Their translation sought to balance accuracy of meaning with literary grace, avoiding both archaic stiffness and modern co
Whatever may be the truth as to the method of composition of the two epics, it may safely be surmised that they were preceded by a mass of legend that had in time gained a certain amount of cohesion and become in a sense national. But the constituent elements of this legend would have come together from a great variety of sources, and many incidents in both poems can be paralleled in the folk tales of widely scattered peoples.
Excerpt form the book
This story of the blinding of the Cyclops, Polyphemus, is found as a separate tale in several countries where no Greek influence can be traced; the adventure in the isle of Circe appears in an Indian collection of tales; the descent into Hades is told by the South Sea Islanders; and the central situation of the return of a far-traveled warrior to a wife who fails to recognize him occurs in stories all over the world.
In the "Odyssey," these and a hundred other incidents are combined into a single plot of the most admirable structure, with almost perfect unity of atmosphere, the whole being placed in the social setting of the kingly age of Greece.
TRANSLATED BY
S H BUTCHER AND A LANG
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTE