Sophocles: The Seven Plays in English Verse

By Sophocles

Included herein are the seven surviving plays of Athens’ pre-eminent playwright, Sophocles, masterfully translated by Lewis Campbell, M.A., LL.D. The plays included are: ‘Antigone,’ ‘Aias,’ ‘King Oedipus,’ ‘Electra,’ ‘The Trachinian Maidens,’ and ‘Oedipus at Colonus.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Aug 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781681464077

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than or contemporary with those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides.

Reviews for Sophocles

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Probably my favourite plays I ever had to read for Classical Studies. Oedipus, particularly. They certainly are tragedies, but they're wonderfully structured ones that, to me at least, certainly pack a punch.

[kassilem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I remember reading Antigone in high school but not much of the play itself. In my college class now, we are reading it and I got much more out of it this time. :) Could do with the fact that I'm older now. We were only required to read Antigone but I felt as if I were missing parts of the story overall without having read the other two so I decided to read all three. I've seen in other reviews that these translations of Fagles aren't as authentic as they could be, but in this context, since it's the first time I've read all three together I didn't mind that much. I knew the overall story of Oedipus, but not until I read these did I really understand it and get to see the character's as more than names. I enjoyed the plays and have decided that I need to read more plays next year. :)

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Cliff/Spark version of Antigone is this: Two sisters want to bury their dead brother. One wants to bury him admirably and the other doesn't want to break the law. He cannot be buried because he was executed for a crime and must be left to rot in the courtyard as an example for the community. Defiant sister must go against the king alone as everyone refuses to help her. True to Greek tragedy nearly everyone, including the king's wife ends up committing suicide. The end.Of course there is much, much more to the story and, depending on which version you read, you get it. In my version of Antigone translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff the language is watered down and somewhat pedestrian. It's not as lyrical as other translations. A small example: from a 1906 Oxford Clarendon Press version (translated by Robert Whitelaw): "Ismene: There's trouble in thy looks, thy tidings tell" compared with the 1954 University of Chicago Press version (translated by Elizabeth Wycoff): "Ismene: What is it? Clearly some news has clouded you" (p 159). Ismene is basically saying the same thing in each line, but the Whitelaw version has more animation, more movement. In the end Antigoneis a simple story about the man against The Man, no matter how you read it.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a modern and inferior translation. The third of the three plays, Antigone, is Greek tragedy at its classic best. Antigone is Oedipus' daughter who defies King Creon's order against burying her brother. He banishes her to be buried in an island dungeon. She hangs herself and Creon 's son and wife commit suicide.

[ncgraham_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The name of Oedipus the King (Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, if you prefer) is nearly synonymous with the idea of Greek tragedy, and maybe with the idea of tragic drama in general. Aristotle referenced it in his Poetics, as (of course) did Freud in his writings. Reading it today, it seems both very ancient and very new, outlandish and yet relevant. I found it immensely gripping, and fascinating in its juxtaposition of fate and human action, sight and blindness, intention and guilt.I was assigned the play in two separate classes this semester, along with Antigone in one of them. I decided to go above and beyond by reading all of the plays, including Oedipus at Colonus, and I'm very glad I did. Although this often-skipped middle work is not as dramatically potent as the other two plays, Sophocles’ use of language is (as others have remarked) even more mature and lyrical than it was before. Also, one really read the three together not because there elements are perfectly cohesive—they aren’t—but because it is only then that the modern reader can understand the full scale of the Theban tragedy, something the Ancient Greeks would have known about going in.Despite the popularity of Oedipus the King and the maturity of Oedipus at Colonus, most everyone I’ve talked to seems to likeAntigone best. I can understand why. It is the most varied of the plays, incorporating a little humor and romance, as well as the usual tragic elements. I think Antigone and Haemon are the first truly sympathetic characters in the cycle, which makes their downfall all the more heartrending.Paul Roche’s translation is easy to read and modern in tone—almost too modern, to tell the truth. There is an almost Hemingway-like disregard of punctuation at times (“What another summons?” should read “What? Another summons?”) not to mention one of the most inane contractions I’ve ever seen (“what’re”). Still, these are minor blemishes, and the sheer readability of Roche's rendering is a definite aid in understanding these ancient tragedies.Scholars have been discussing and debating these plays for literally centuries. I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of them, and can easily see myself coming back to them in the future.

[camarie_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book including the stories of epic Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone. Sophocles is an amazing author. Oedipus is a man who tries to avoid his prophecy, which is to kill his father and marry his mother. Not only marry his mother, but also have four children with her. Now, he searches for an answer to his question: Has he fulfilled the prophecy? Think your life has drama? Please. Oedipus has it worse than anyone. In Antigone, she goes against the law to bury her brother. What will win, reason and order or morality and fate? Beautifully written and relative even today.

[rhinoa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Three plays are collected in this volume surrounding Oedipus and his family. Oedipus was famous for killing his father and marrying his mother after being abandoned at birth. The first play is Antigone which follows the daughter of Oedipus and his wife/mother Jocasta. Her brothers have both died and while Eteocles is given a proper burial, Polynices is left out without any rites by their uncle Creon. Antigone is distraught and goes against Creon's wishes (he is the King after Oedipus) and tries to cover his body bringing about more sorrow to the doomed family.Oedipus the King follows which shows the sequence of events leading up to Oedipus learning the truth about his birth and the crimes he has committed. It has him summoning the shepherd who is the sole witness of the death of Laius and it also emerges how he grew up not knowing his real parents. It's a sad tale as Oedipus did so much to try and avoid fulfilling the prophecy. The final play is Oedipus at Colonus which finishes the story of Oedpius after his exile. It concludes his story taking it to his death in Athens with Theseus. His daughters Antigone and Ismene are with him at the end.I really enjoyed all three plays although I do feel that having Antigone first was out of order and it should have been the final play in the collection. I would really like to see them performed live, especially Oedipus the King which is the most powerful of the three with the truths it reveals. A must for all mythology fans.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Freud loved this shizzle. it is a classic. whether or not I want to kill my dad. oh wait, I'm sure of.

[gillis3sarah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Oedipus. In a kind of sick, twisted way, I guess.

[lyzadanger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Warning: I do mention things in this musing that could be construed as spoilers to the action in the plays.Unlike Aeschylus, whose plays I battled through out of a sense of obligation and gravitas, Sophocles' Oedipal cycle snared me. Perhaps it is Robert Fagles' talented translation, perhaps I am simply reading with more care, but the complexity of the characters shone through, even 2500 years later.It's not Oedipus I'm talking about here. For Oedipus, things happen to him and around him, but he himself is not much more than a vessel of fate. In the final play, "Oedipus at Colonus", he even argues (fiercely!) that he is innocent of his ghastly acts, instead a hopeless pawn of the gods' prophesies. It's the women, and most strongly, Antigone. Her depth highlights the conflicting sense of womanhood held by the ancient Greeks. In Greek literature we usually see women in one of two ways. One: the simpering, overwrought mental weaklings (I tend to think of these as the Penelopes or the Aphrodites). These waifs are usually simultaneously revered for their constancy and tenderness, reviled for their uselessness. But then there's the other side of femininity. The Athena-like assertiveness, the uncompromising, the virginal. This is Antigone (and, to a lesser extent, her sister Ismene). She is persuasive and adventurous. She risks her life for the honor of family. She is so upstanding that Oedipus can't quite compute--on multiple occasions he exhorts that his daughters are being so strong it's they who are the men, not his sons. It's not surprising that the Greeks would tend to ascribe positive characteristics as masculinity, but it interesting to me how far Antigone gets to go. However, I would argue that in this sense she had to die. Die, that is, before her marriage to Haemon, which would have taken her out of the virginal limelight and forced her into the sphere of domestic womanhood. I'd assert that this would have destroyed the integrity of her character.Antigone's strength is but one aspect of probably a billion subthemes in these plays. It will take me a long time to sort it all out in my mind. A moment of bragging: I almost instantly recognized Oedipus' character at the beginning of "Colonus": totally King Lear! Turns out I was right; Shakespeare borrowed heavily.

[jpsnow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. Sophocles is surprisingly easy to read, not unlike a modern novel. I watched my understanding of the Greek society and beliefs being "rounded out" now that I have some context from previous choruses (tragedies) and the epics. The Oedipus trilogy showed an interesting thread through the three works. I can understand why the Greeks found such a format entertaining. Sophocles lived from around 495bc to 406bc and competed and won against Aeschylus in the contests. He was also a leader in Athens, born in Colonus. Oedipus is worth reading both to have that understanding of the classic work, as well as in its own right. I note here only the closing moral: "Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the destined final day, we must call no one happy who is of mortal race, until he hath crossed life's border, free from pain." In Colonus and again in Antigone I noticed what may have been the first reference of "stranger in a strange land." The parallels to Shakespeare are also so evident, best shown by the use of "ill-starred" - although Shakespeare would have done the exact opposite treatment of any death. Deaths typically happen off-stage in the tragedies. The moral of Antigone: "Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness; and reverence towards the gods must be inviolate. Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise."

[anabellebf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Contains the best tragedy ever written. Always a pleasure to re-read.

[wenestvedt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you can, see also the stage musical, "The Gospel at Colonus" -- or at least get the soundtrack. Set in a black pentecostal church, starring Clarence Fountain & The Blind Boys of Alabama, a massive choir, guitarist Sam Butler, and assorted other musical & vocal powerhouses, it was one of the best stage performances I've ever seen (Guthrie Theater, 1986 or 1987).