Virgil's intentions, his devices, his mastery of poetic form and language, all are revealed in the poem much more clearly than any introduction can do. The reader will find opportunity along the way (if he is so inclined) to make the observations customarily set forth in introductions. The Aeneid's story is of course unfolded in the poem itself, and Fitzgerald lets the reader go directly to the story. This reticence stems, it seems, from Fitzgerald's unwillingness to stand between the reader and the story. Even the acknowledgments are in small print at the end of the volume.
Robert Fitzgerald's new translation of Virgil's Aeneid will not appeal to the casual reader or to the scholar accustomed to "critical editions." There are none of the usual devices intended to make classical works easier to understand and interpret: It contains no glossary, no interpretive essay, no plot summary, no introduction. A review of The Aeneid, by Virgil, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
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