荷马，传说为古希腊盲诗人。生平和生卒年月不可考。相传记述公元前12至前11世纪特洛伊战争及有关海上冒险故事的古希腊长篇叙事史诗《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》，即是他根据民间流传的短歌综合编写而成。据此，他生活的年代，当在公元前10到前9、8世纪之间。

Homer's great epic describes the many adventures of Odysseus,Greek warrior,as the strives over many years to return to his home island of Ithaca after the Trojan War.Odysseus's quick-witted heroism,his colourful adventures,his endurance,his live for his wife and son have the same power to move and inspire readers today as they did in Archaic Greece,2800years age.

This poem has been translated many times over the years,but Chapman's sinewy,gorgeous rendering(1616)stands in a class of its own.Chapman believed himself inspired by the spirit of Homer himself,and matches the breadty and pwoer of the original with a complex and stunning idiom of his own.John Keats expressed his admiration for the resulting work in the famous sonne.‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer':‘Much have I travelled in the realms of gold…’

This new Wordsworth edition of Chapaman's Homer contatins accessible annotation,and a detailed introduction that places his masterpiece in the context of his own day,and discusses its influences on later poets.