Ovid's Heroides Translated into English Verse

Thomas Banks

Mentor: Louis Perraud

 

I first had the idea of translating the Heroides when Dr. Fehrenbacher commented in last semester’s Chaucer course that it was a pity no one read the poem anymore, and it had drifted out of the canon. This neglect of the work, of course, does not deprive me entirely of benefits, as the precedents of translation that have attached themselves to classical poems more often reconfigured into English have not grown so heavily upon this one. The few English versions I have found read more like approximations construed by machine than by an active poetic conscience.

 

What I need now is to find a better annotated text, as well as a more secondary research materials. Our library has precious little to offer me in the way of either, but Dr. Perraud has been good enough to steer me towards a couple of helpful research websites.

 

This semester the goal is to translate into English verse all fifteen of the poetic epistles that comprise the work. First I will need to avail myself of a good critical biography of Ovid to gain insight into his method of craftsmanship as we now see it, as well as the perceived purpose of his having composed this work; why does he write an extended heroic poem from the point of view of abandoned women? A few of the books addressing the cultural scenery of early imperial Rome, of which the number is Legion, will be of no small nourishment as well. These, and whatever other critical commentaries on the Heroides I can get my hands upon, should serve as  sufficient cornerstones for my translation.

 

My goal for this project is simply to compose a poem that is itself reverential to its source material which at the same time subdues to good service all the lyrical advantages of the English poetic idiom.

 

As per the presentation, I hope to complete about one epistle a week, over a total of fifteen weeks.

 

                                                                    Bibliography

 

1. Fulkerson, Laurel. The Ovidian Heroine as Author: Reading, Writing, and Community. Cambridge University Press. 2005.

 

2. Reeson, James. Ovid’s Heroides: a Commentary. Brill Academic Publishers. 2001.

 

3. Spentzou, Efrossini. Readers and Writers in Ovid’s Heroides. Oxford University Press. 2003.