Edited by Patricia Stammers, Monday, 12 May 2014, 22:35
'He leapt from his chariot, hit the ground at a run
through enemies, Trojan spears, and left his sister
grieving as he went bursting through the lines.
Wild as a boulder plowing headlong down from a summit,
torn out by the tempests - whether the stormwinds washed it free
or the creeping years stole under it, worked it loose,
down the cliff it crashes, ruthless crag of rock
bounding over the ground with enormous impact,
churning up in its onrush woods and herds and men.'
Publisher; Penguin
Author; Virgil, trans. Robert Eagles
Title; The Aeneid, p. 377 - 8, Book Twelve: The Sword Decides All, Ls.791-799
'...whether the stormwinds washed it free
or the creeping years stole under it, worked it loose, ...'
How does Vergil achieve that exciting effect? First he has an irresistible storyline. Then he describes the 'wild' pace of the boulder, which is threatening, leaving the reader in suspense, in its path. The subsequent two lines comment offhandedly like an expert naturalist on possible reasons why the boulder was in full spate. Thus the reader is mighty anxious to know what happens next.
He takes from Homer's Iliad, but reinvents ingeniously.
Poetry Plus!
'He leapt from his chariot, hit the ground at a run
through enemies, Trojan spears, and left his sister
grieving as he went bursting through the lines.
Wild as a boulder plowing headlong down from a summit,
torn out by the tempests - whether the stormwinds washed it free
or the creeping years stole under it, worked it loose,
down the cliff it crashes, ruthless crag of rock
bounding over the ground with enormous impact,
churning up in its onrush woods and herds and men.'
Publisher; Penguin
Author; Virgil, trans. Robert Eagles
Title; The Aeneid, p. 377 - 8, Book Twelve: The Sword Decides All, Ls.791-799
'...whether the stormwinds washed it free
or the creeping years stole under it, worked it loose, ...'
How does Vergil achieve that exciting effect? First he has an irresistible storyline. Then he describes the 'wild' pace of the boulder, which is threatening, leaving the reader in suspense, in its path. The subsequent two lines comment offhandedly like an expert naturalist on possible reasons why the boulder was in full spate. Thus the reader is mighty anxious to know what happens next.
He takes from Homer's Iliad, but reinvents ingeniously.