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ed_moore's review
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
Virgil’s ‘The Georgics’ is an ‘epic’ poem about labour and the land. I place the term epic into quotations however as the poem teeters on the line of wether it can be described as an epic, it not being a poem of a journey or battle with any hero figures, however is a work of Virgil’s and to an extent explores the journey of crops, livestock and the land, and how this fuels empires, conflicts and journeys. Therefore an agricultural journey is presented to enable the journeys of the great epics.
‘The Georgics’ wasn’t the most engaging, what can one expect from a poem about farming of which I read as a comparison piece for a university assignment, whereas the fourth book with focus on bees and Aristaeus’ attempt at redemption for the indirect murder of Eurydice after attempting to rape her was interesting. Aristaeus however wasn’t particularly condemned for his actions by Virgil, which is a presentation I can’t say I particularly agreed with.
Whilst not the most thrilling of topics, it was written well and offered many interesting points of analysis. Not quite up to the level of The Aenied but what is!
goosemixtapes's review
I don't desire to comprehend the universe in my verse,
not if I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths,
an iron voice. O come and coast the headland's hem
hard by the shore: I will not keep you here
with inkhorn snarls or long preamble.
here is the thing: virgil is my boyfriend and i love him and this poem is about farming. his latin is flexible and dynamic and gorgeous and the things he does with words are amazing and this poem is about farming. the georgics is a work brimming with connections to other influential works and to the history of vergil's time and hiding a lot of thorny political questions beneath its ostensible coverage of crops and cows and bees, and it is deeply and frustratingly and beautifully ambivalent in the way vergil always is, and it is also two thousand* lines about farming. there is an almost 100-line segment about soil types.
[*how is it only two thousand how is this 1/5th the length of the aeneid how is this poem that short that doesn't make sense i've been wandering around in this poem for months how is it only t]
also the farming advice isn't even true.
anyway, the penguin edition is great; like the penguin Eclogues, it has the english on the right-hand-page and the latin on the left, which is fun for me, at least. the introduction is also really really good; johnson interprets the poem's mishmash of other sources as encouraging the reader to learn not just the work of the fields but the work of interpretation, and also mirroring the empire's smashing together of various cultures in forced unity. REALLY good essay. the roman civil war is haunting this poem at every possible moment and i think that's really fun <3
my favorite book of the poem itself was book four, the one about bees. god, my man loves his bees. there's also an orpheus and eurydice interlude that sort of comes out of nowhere but is absolutely gorgeous. anyway, did you guys know that if you have a cow and you beat it to fucking death and then leave it covered in herbs that bees will spawn out of its rotting guts? you have to beat it to death first. and then you get bees. for free. it's a hack they don't tell you about in school. i know it's true because my boyfriend told me
not if I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths,
an iron voice. O come and coast the headland's hem
hard by the shore: I will not keep you here
with inkhorn snarls or long preamble.
here is the thing: virgil is my boyfriend and i love him and this poem is about farming. his latin is flexible and dynamic and gorgeous and the things he does with words are amazing and this poem is about farming. the georgics is a work brimming with connections to other influential works and to the history of vergil's time and hiding a lot of thorny political questions beneath its ostensible coverage of crops and cows and bees, and it is deeply and frustratingly and beautifully ambivalent in the way vergil always is, and it is also two thousand* lines about farming. there is an almost 100-line segment about soil types.
[*how is it only two thousand how is this 1/5th the length of the aeneid how is this poem that short that doesn't make sense i've been wandering around in this poem for months how is it only t]
also the farming advice isn't even true.
anyway, the penguin edition is great; like the penguin Eclogues, it has the english on the right-hand-page and the latin on the left, which is fun for me, at least. the introduction is also really really good; johnson interprets the poem's mishmash of other sources as encouraging the reader to learn not just the work of the fields but the work of interpretation, and also mirroring the empire's smashing together of various cultures in forced unity. REALLY good essay. the roman civil war is haunting this poem at every possible moment and i think that's really fun <3
my favorite book of the poem itself was book four, the one about bees. god, my man loves his bees. there's also an orpheus and eurydice interlude that sort of comes out of nowhere but is absolutely gorgeous. anyway, did you guys know that if you have a cow and you beat it to fucking death and then leave it covered in herbs that bees will spawn out of its rotting guts? you have to beat it to death first. and then you get bees. for free. it's a hack they don't tell you about in school. i know it's true because my boyfriend told me
lukija's review against another edition
4.0
Vergilius: Georgica - Maanviljelijän työt / proosasuomennos, johdanto ja erittäin informatiiviset viitetekstit Teivas Oksala, Gaudeamus, 1976
"Näiden todisteiden ja esimerkkien nojalla väitetään,
että mehiläiset ovat osa jumalallista sielua
ja taivaallisia henkäyksiä: jumala läpäisee kaikkeuden,
maat, meret, pohjattoman taivaan.
Hänestä pieni ja suuri karja, ihmiset, villieläimet
saavat kukin syntyessään aineettoman elämänhengen.
Kaikki oliot palaavat ja yhtyvät hajotessaan häneen,
kuolemalle ei jää sijaa, vaan ne lentävät elävinä
tähtien joukkoon ja kohoavat ylös taivaalle."
Vergilius eli keisari Augustuksen aikana joitakin vuosina eaa. Hän nautti keisarinsa sekä mesenaattinsa tukea ja runoili jälkipolville Georgican lisäksi paimenrunoutta (Bucolica) ja eepoksen Rooman syntyhistoriasta Troiasta lähtien nimeltään Aeneis. Aeneis on roomalainen vastine Iliaalle ja Odysseialle ja/tai jatkoa siitä mihin Ilias jäi. Suositeltavaa luettavaa ja löytyy hyvät suomennokset. Henk.koht pidän enemmän kreikkalaisesta paimenrunoudesta (esim. Teokritos), mutta Vergilius osaa asiansa kyllä myös. ;)
Georgica on maanviljelyn opaskirja: puut, kasvit, suur- ja pienkarja sekä mehiläisten hoito yhdessä runollisessa paketissa. Mukana panteismia ja antiikin roomalaista uskontoa kreikkalaisilta lainattuneine jumalineen ja taruineen. Tälläkin teoksella on kreikkalaiset esikuvansa esimerkiksi Hediodoksen Työt ja päivät. Georgican jälki eurooppalaisen viljelys- ja karjanhoitokulttuuriin ylettää keskiajan yli.
Teivas Oksalan proosakäännös on miellyttävää luettavaa.
"Näiden todisteiden ja esimerkkien nojalla väitetään,
että mehiläiset ovat osa jumalallista sielua
ja taivaallisia henkäyksiä: jumala läpäisee kaikkeuden,
maat, meret, pohjattoman taivaan.
Hänestä pieni ja suuri karja, ihmiset, villieläimet
saavat kukin syntyessään aineettoman elämänhengen.
Kaikki oliot palaavat ja yhtyvät hajotessaan häneen,
kuolemalle ei jää sijaa, vaan ne lentävät elävinä
tähtien joukkoon ja kohoavat ylös taivaalle."
Vergilius eli keisari Augustuksen aikana joitakin vuosina eaa. Hän nautti keisarinsa sekä mesenaattinsa tukea ja runoili jälkipolville Georgican lisäksi paimenrunoutta (Bucolica) ja eepoksen Rooman syntyhistoriasta Troiasta lähtien nimeltään Aeneis. Aeneis on roomalainen vastine Iliaalle ja Odysseialle ja/tai jatkoa siitä mihin Ilias jäi. Suositeltavaa luettavaa ja löytyy hyvät suomennokset. Henk.koht pidän enemmän kreikkalaisesta paimenrunoudesta (esim. Teokritos), mutta Vergilius osaa asiansa kyllä myös. ;)
Georgica on maanviljelyn opaskirja: puut, kasvit, suur- ja pienkarja sekä mehiläisten hoito yhdessä runollisessa paketissa. Mukana panteismia ja antiikin roomalaista uskontoa kreikkalaisilta lainattuneine jumalineen ja taruineen. Tälläkin teoksella on kreikkalaiset esikuvansa esimerkiksi Hediodoksen Työt ja päivät. Georgican jälki eurooppalaisen viljelys- ja karjanhoitokulttuuriin ylettää keskiajan yli.
Teivas Oksalan proosakäännös on miellyttävää luettavaa.
kristidurbs's review
4.0
Great work by Virgil on the care of the land and painting an archetype of the small farmer. I loved Books I and II. Books III and IV seemed a little disappointing - less poetic, less philosophical. I also had mixed feelings about this translation after comparing it to others that seemed more faithful to the original, whereas this one sought to sound poetic, which at times led to feelings of inadequacy (about the translation).
marielaabrown's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
madoko's review against another edition
3.0
We get it, you want to get stepped on by thicc Scythian gf
lesmotsdelivrants's review against another edition
1.0
C'était nul. J'aime bien l'astronomie donc au début jme suis dit ah ça va être cool il parle des constellations et tout - lol en fait il en parle pendant 3 pages et après c'est fini. Les notes explicatives expliquaient rien du tout, soit elle donnaient des noms obscurs de montagnes et de lacs et de prairies, soit elles expliquaient des mythes de faocn incompréhensible et lourde. Et puis c'est bon on a compris que Bacchus c'est le vin ou les vignes, c'est répété au moins 50 fois c'était chiant. Bref c'était plus un manuel de jardinage et de "comment faire souffrir des animaux" qu'un livre sur le travail. Entre Vinaver qui parle de faire caca et de s'essuyer avec du papier doux, weil qui dit de regarder dieu en travaillant, et Virgile qui nous explique l'agriculture, je sais pas a quoi vont ressembler mes dissertes de français aux concours...