"Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion..." (1)
Or should we lump it together like so:
"Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion..." (1)
4 comments:
I don't think you'd format it the way it is in the book.
We've never done that with the other books we've read, so I think lumping it together is the logical answer...
But since it is a poem, isn't the notation more important than in a novel?
You're both right, to an extent. Since it is a poem, separating the lines is appropriate.
But since it is a translation from ancient Greek, we haven't talked much about the poesy of this epic.
The deciding factor is always clarity. Are you quoting enough lines that you'd have to center and offset the quote anyway? If so, separate the lines. It will be easier to read and recognize. Are you just quoting two lines? If so, keep them together and cite it as normal. A compromise in this case is to put a / after the word that would normally be the end of the line -
ie "Peleus' son Achilles/murderous"
Awesome. Thanks for letting us know!
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