Carmina vs Odes: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Latin Laudatory poetry, Latin Verse satire, Latin poetry, Latin language, Poetry
Carmina
"The odes of Horace are the cornerstone of lyric poetry in the Western world. Their subtlety of tone and brilliance of technique have often proved elusive, especially when - as has usually been the case - a single…
vs
Odes
This groundbreaking new translation of Horace's most widely read collection of poetry is rendered in modern, metrical English verse rather than the more common free verse found in many other translations. Jeffrey H.…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Carmina is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 7 for Odes.
- Carmina has the widest readership — 3184 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Carmina | Odes | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (3184) | 4.0 (123) |
| Hardcover | — | 3.0 (1) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (1) |
Reception
| Carmina | Odes | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 3184 | 123 |
| Editions | 183 | 127 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 5077 | 5119 |
| Reading it now | 100 | — |
| Written reviews | 123 | 123 |
| Wikipedia attention | 2928 | 2928 |
| Pages | 165 | 424 |