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Have any of you read Ovid's Metamorphoses?

I'm recently finished it. It's an absolutely incredible piece of work. The specific translation I have was done by Rolfe Humphries.

I also plan on reading Hesiod's Theogony (sp?) soon.

I had a book of Ovid's love poetry but it got left behind when I moved. ><

I don't remember the translator, but I do love the lyricism of his poetry and how modern some of his ideas seemed to be, especially concerning women.

I've read it. It's been quite awhile, though.

It was fun, amusing, dense, thought-provoking....

I cannot remember the translator, alas! I thought he or she did a very good job of it, making it comprehensible without making it too "modern" sounding. I once started a translation of The Iliad that was full of modern British slang. I couldn't finish it; I couldn't handle Jupiter calling Mars a "good chap."

What I read of it, I loved.
I had to read selections of Metamorphoses, and it was VERY interesting. Far better than Theogony in my opinion.

Out of all the Hesiod I had to read waaaaay back, I don't believe The Shield of Herakles was on my list. Is it also an epic?

I disagree with you that Theogony isn't as good, but they can be hard to compare, since whilst they may be covering some of the same material, they're writing for different purposes and audiences, also, obviously, comparing two works of poetry both in translation can be a bit... sketchy, if you know what I mean. Half of what you're judging is a translator, not Ovid of Hesiod. And if your translators have taken different approaches (e.g, one decided to use blank verse and do a very literal translation, the other decided to try and translate it into something that would get the feel of the poem across in English, etc) then it makes comparing them even harder/perhaps slightly pointless. Furthermore, they're poems being translated from two different languages, and the Greek and Latin 'rules' and guidelines for writing poetry are different, which affects how well they translate into English.

Of course, I appreciate that not everyone knows Greek & Latin to read them in the original, or is going to learn them just so they can make a more informed comparison. And you are of course, fully entitled to your opinion - but I guess I'd just like to point out that at least half of what you prefered in one was the translators' work, not the Poets'.