The Odyssey

First published in 1937 by W. H. D. Rouse (1863-1950), public domain.

In his preface to this edition Rouse calls The Odyssey “the best story ever written . . . it has been a favourite for three thousand years.”

This is a widely-used literal prose translation of the classic epic. It ends with a chapter discussing the language of Homer, and how the original text might be received by his contemporaries.

The Odyssey was the first and probably the greatest adventure story of all time. Each age has had its translators of Homer, each finding in him the peculiar weather of that age. The Elizabethans found him a Renaissance man, Pope found him an Augustan, Matthew Arnold a Victorian. It was perhaps inevitable that T. E. Lawrence, and W.H.D. Rouse, should have called him the father of the modern novel.