Works and Days

A new verse translation by award-winning poet Alicia Stallings of one of the foundational works of ancient Greece

TLS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2018, selected by Rachel Hadas and Emily Wilson

The ancient Greeks revered Hesiod, believing he had beaten Homer in a singing contest and that after his dead body was thrown to sea, it was brought back by dolphins. His Works and Days is one of the most important early works of Greek poetry. Ostensibly written by the poet to chide his lazy brother, it recounts the story of Pandora's box and humanity's decline since the Golden Age, and can be read as a celebration of rural life and a hymn to work. Alicia Stallings's new translation breathes new life into Hesiod's work, rendering its vivid poetry for a new generation of classics readers.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Hesiod, a contemporary of Homer, probably lived in the eighth century in Boeotia on the Greek mainland. He is often considered to be the author of both the Theogony and Works and Days, although this has been debated.

Alicia Stallings is an American poet and translator. She has published three books of original verse, Archaic Smile, Hapax, and Olives, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her verse translation of Lucretius’s The Nature of Things is published by Penguin Classics.