Pope (1688–1744) set to work on his translation of Homer’s Odyssey shortly after finishing his Iliad. It was published by subscription in five volumes in 1725–6. The first edition was similar in appearance to that of the Iliad translation – a handsome quarto, with decorative head- and tail-pieces, and extensive “Observations” printed after the text of each book of the poem. Pope’s publisher, Bernard Lintot, immediately advertised his own “trade” editions in folio and duodecimo – the latter with notes at the foot of each page. The Odyssey translation had no Preface but was bookended by “A General View of the Epic Poem, and of the Iliad and Odyssey” extracted from the treatise on epic poetry by the French critic René Le Bossu (1631–80) and a “Postscript” by Pope himself.
The general conception of translation...
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Citation: Hopkins, David William. "Odyssey". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 February 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3149, accessed 09 June 2026.]
