Translating Homer's Odyssey into limericks

Emily Wilson is the author of a new "lean, fleet-footed translation" of Homer's Odyssey that "recaptures Homer's 'nimble gallop.'"

To celebrate the publication, Wilson has converted the Odyssey to an epic series of limericks ("A majestical goddess, Athena/swooped down from the sky -- you'd have seen her") that she's posted to Twitter.

This is my favorite text-to-verse translation since Seth Schoen risked felony prosecution by converting the DVD-descrambling code to a series of haiku.

There was a young man called Telemachuswho was bullied and in a dilemma 'causehe missed his lost dadand his mom made him madand he almost got killed by Eurymachus.

A majestical goddess, Athena,swooped down from the sky -- you'd have seen heras some kind of bird when she gave the word,men's yearning for fighting got keener.

A man who lived all on his own-somewas invaded by someone called no-one,who gave him some wineand then made him blindso he called to his father, Poseidon.

There was a young man called Telemachuswho was bullied and in a dilemma 'causehe missed his lost dadand his mom made him madand he almost got killed by Eurymachus. https://t.co/F4AZ5dDmjT

— Emily Nekyia Wilson (@EmilyRCWilson) October 9, 2019

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