The Odes of Horace

The first rigorously metrical translation of Horace’s classic work in many years, this collection combines a staunch respect for the meaning of the Latin verse, which appears on facing pages, with an ebullient sense of these varied poems as works in English. A line-for-line rendition that finds English equivalents for the original quantitative meters, the volume captures both the tenderness and occasional irascibility of the great Augustan poet. The book also contains useful end notes for those wishing to better understand Horace’s allusions and mythological proper names.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, best known to English speakers as Horace, was a contemporary of Virgil and is reputed as one of the finest Latin poets. Len Krisak is the author of the poetry collection Even as We Speak, which won the Richard Wilbar Prize in 2000. He is also the recipient of the Robert Penn Warren Prize and the Robert Frost Prize.