Translation
Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days
Northwestern University Press, 2017
Featured on “Literature and History Podcast”
“Johnson’s translation should be an essential text not only for readers of classical poetry, but for those interested in the long history of environmental literature.”
— Margaret Ronda
Presented here in a bilingual edition, Johnson’s translation takes care to preserve the structure of Hesiod’s lines and sentences, achieving a sonic and rhythmic balance that enables us to hear his music across the millennia.
— Northwestern University Press Catalogue
Virgil’s Georgics: A Poem of the Land
Penguin Classics, 2009
Featured on “Literature and History Podcast”
“Kimberly Johnson’s The Georgics: A Poem of the Land is something special – an ingenious poet translating another ingenious poet, and transposing his language into English with all its sonority and consonance and assonance…And additionally, Johnson’s notes are thorough and considerate.”
— Douglas Metzger
One of the greatest poems of the classical world, Virgil’s Georgics is a glorious celebration of the eternal beauty of the natural world, now brought vividly to life in a powerful new translation. Expansive in its scope, lush in its language, this extraordinary work is at once a reflection on the cycles of life, death and rebirth, an argument for the nobility of labour and an impassioned reflection on the Roman Empire of Virgil’s times. Kimberly Johnson’s lyrical verse translation captures all the rich beauty and abundant imagery of the original, re-creating this ancient masterpiece for our times.
— Penguin Classics Catalogue
Read a review of Virgil’s Georgics: A Poem of the Land in The Times (UK).
Read a review of Virgil’s Georgics: A Poem of the Land in The Independent (UK).
Read a review of Virgil’s Georgics: A Poem of the Land in Books and Culture .
Virgil: O Cruel Alexis (Penguin Little Black Classics)
Penguin Classics, 2015
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin’s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries.