A Translation and Interpretation of Horace’s Iambi

Book excerpt: Horace’s book of seventeen iambi (by convention called ‘Epodes’) contains some of the most complex and controversial poetry of his entire career. This new interpretation exposes a poet in the throes of the torment of writing. Horace crafts an artwork which reveals the agony of expressing agony. He struggles to find the words as he gives voice to the anticipation of grief. The poet’s inner demons conspire against him. Anything that could go wrong, does go wrong. At the end we realise that Horace might have never wanted to write this book in the first place. But the fate of this writer is to be forever persecuted by his own writing. Horace’s iambi are methodically stitched together. Meter, intertextuality, wordplay, and theme combine strategically to provide an utterly compelling and vivid watercolor in words. It is a work of art which is able to hold its place amongst any top tier poetry, in any language, in any era.