Reviews for Jerusalem delivered

The average rating for Jerusalem delivered based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-04-24 00:00:00 Peter Gotout Godfrey of Bulloigne (aka Jerusalem Delivered) is frankly a disappointment. It is another one of those fanciful tales of knights and maidens with much of the requisite pining and whining. While the Edward Fairfax translation has some energy and exoticism, only so much can be done with the melodramatic saga underlying it Spenser's Faerie Queene, by comparison, suffers from some of the same issues of the rambling courtly romance, but it has an underlying intelligence (though you might disagree with it) as well as more vibrant poetry. It's hard to sympathize with these rather flat characters. Godfrey is all-wise and bloodless, Tancred is ridiculously easy to distract, Erminia is baffling when she's not whining, Rinaldo and Argante are rather stereotypical warriors, etc. There is no Hector, Priam, Nestor or Achilles that comes to life. In fact, there are so many characters coming and going it's hard to keep track of them. Or to care. For example, in Book XX, at the start of the climatic battle to end the book, the brave deeds of Gildippe are featured. Gildippe? Who the --? In fairness, she (yes, she) is mentioned in Book I among the list of knights, and in passing in several other books…along with dozens of other knights. This does bring up one of the interesting parts of this tale: the women warriors. There are many strong women characters, and I mean literally strong. Clorinda and Gildippe actual warriors that don armor and get into the melee with the men. Both are killed eventually, but their presence is not presented as that unusual in the story. Additionally, Armida, though I don't think she puts on armor, also participates in the battle. Overall, is moderately interesting read, but after book 9 I decided to skip many convoluted misadventures, romantic roilings, magical mishaps and deeds of derring-do and to go to book 18 to read the conclusion. If you like sprawling stories of knights and maidens and honor and magic with the required posing, pining and whining, this book is for you. For others looking for a moving story of adventure with lively characters and a depth of emotion, I'd look elsewhere. A book featuring excerpts of the best parts of this epic would probably suffice. (Though I don't think that exist.) About the Clarendon Press Edition The Clarendon Press edition, besides being ridiculously expensive, is supposed to be a critical edition. I guess it is, but it's not worth seeking out (or paying for). If you want to know Fairfax's influence on Milton and Paradise Lost, this is the book for you. There are dozens of pages of notes, but they are about similarities in Milton, or Fairfax's wanderings from the original Italian. If you want historical and cultural context, help with difficult lines, assistance with Fairfax's use of ancient and obscure words (see below), help with the obscure mythological references, modern names of the ancient cities cited, assistance keeping the characters straight, or even a freaking map, well, too bad for you. This edition is not going to provide that. And when I say obscure words, I mean obscure. For example: slubbred, reased (raised?), despreed, nire (near?), theete, murned, etc. A little help would be nice. I can't express how disappointing this is. I think underneath the layers of age and obscurity there is an interesting work. But it needs an editor to help flesh it out and bring it to life -- to guide the reader through the expectations of the form and the style -- to help make it relevant. (See the Hackett edition of the Faerie Queene for an example of how it should be done.) I feel like I'm reading a minor gem, but I'm being confounded and blocked by the lack of assistance. Essentially, the Clarendon Press edition provides a critical analysis of the Fairfax translation, but essentially ignores the underlying work by Tasso. I must admit, though, I enjoyed the use of original spelling. That definitely adds to the exotic nature of Fairfax's translation.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-27 00:00:00 Bryan L Mon LOVE LOVE LOVE If you like poetry and you like nature, this is a fantastic collection. Denise Levertov has definitely been added to my list of favorite poets.