Sophocles: Oedipus the King: A New Verse Translation

Sophocles’ great masterpiece, Oedipus the King, is here translated into highly-polished English verse that reflects the excellences of Sophocles’ Greek original. The introduction and notes to the translation show how the play is constructed and the meaning this construction implies, as well as providing information about the workings of the fifth-century theatre. They also address influential misunderstandings of the play, in particular a widespread failure to understand that Apollo has an active role in what happens to Oedipus. The reader is provided with a clear sense of how Sophocles constructed his plot and how he ably concealed the fact that his characters act in ways which differ from what we expect in real life.