Voices of the Trojan War

Overview / Summary

In this small collection of poetry, the dramatic story of the Trojan War unfolds, told in the voices of the people who were there.

Paris speaks of the three goddesses who appeared to him and commanded him to choose the most beautiful. “Troy, my beloved homeland, / perished because I believed / the goddesses’ reassurances. / In the end, I was deceived, / for the gods can never be trusted.”

Andromache sends a message to her husband Hector. She says, “Hector, beloved, / last night in the stillness / I sought you. Fleeing our bedchamber, / sleepless, I climbed the high ramparts, . . . Come home to me. / Your Andromache.”

We hear Epeios, the builder of the Trojan horse, state with pride, “Every endeavor begins with a singular vision, / What came in the night to Odysseus, cloaked in a dream, / Unveiled itself by day. His deadly scheme / required my skills . . .”

And in the end, Queen Hecuba sings, “ Rise from the dust, old head; / begin your bleak refrain / of loss too great to measure, / of deathless pain.”

Each poem follows a quote from an ancient text: Agamemnon, The Iliad, The Metamorphoses, The Aeneid and others, which provides context and meaning. The verses, written by Hovey, vary in style depending on the speaker, but each expresses the strong and passionate emotion that grew out of ten years of bitter war. The book includes an excellent appendix explaining each of the characters and a bibliography of the ancient texts that were quoted.
— Review by Barbara Scotto.