Alcaeus: Poems & Fragments

by Alcaeus, R.J. Dent (Translator)

The complete Poems & Fragments of Alcaeus in R J Dent's modern English translation

Alcaeus's beautiful and delicate poetry is often overshadowed by the literary reputation of Sappho, his fellow poet and compatriot. R J Dent's sensitive translation of the Poems & Fragments from ancient Greek into lively modern English promises to rescue Alcaeus's ethereal poetry from obscurity.

There is no other published translation of Alcaeus's Poems & Fragments in existence.

"Alcaeus’s nobility, conciseness and sweetness combine forcefully with his use of metaphor and his clarity." – Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ‘On Imitation’

"His poetry smells of vine-leaves and the sea." – Peter Levi, ‘A History of Greek Literature’

Alcaeus Poems & Fragments will also available in paperback from July 2012 from www.circaidygregory.co.uk

Genres: Poetry, Classics

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2012

About the author

611 BC-circa 580 BC

Greek poet Alcaeus reputedly invented Alcaic verse of a form, used also in Latin and consisting of strophes of four lines, following one of several metrical patterns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcaeus...

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many of his poems are quoted by authors examining the political realities of Archaic Greece. I think most who have pursued the subject are familiar with his "ship of state" poem. My favorite lines: "Poverty is a grievous thing, an ungovernable evil, who with her sister Helplessness lays low a great people."

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Politics and drink with the occasional God or lover.

[j.e.rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The city was never the place to quench one's thirst for the gods."

[Stephen Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read M. L. West's translation in Greek Lyric Poetry. Alcaeus was a contemporary and countryman of Sappho.

Some interesting fragments, including hymns to gods:

From Pelops' sea-girt land come nigh,
great sons of Leda and of Zeus,
Castor and Pollux; 0 consent, appear,
ye who ride over all the earth
and the broad sea on swift-legg' d steeds
and rescue men with ease from chilly death,
leaping in brightness from afar
upon firm-thwarted vessels' masts,
on stormy watches bringing the dark ship light.

poems lamenting his betrayal by a friend, Pittacus:

Let Hyrrhas' son be visited
by our friends' vengeance, for we swore
stern oaths that none of us would e'er
betray a member of our company,
but either lie in cloaks of earth,
killed by those men who then held power,
or else put them to death, and save
the people from its burden of distress.

and drinking songs:

Wet your whistle with wine, boyo, the Dog-star's back;
it's a hard time of year, everything's parched with
heat.
Pleasant out of the bush comes the cicada's noise,
and the thistle's in flower. Women are dirtiest
now, but men are reduced-Sirius dries the sap
from their head and their knees . . .

[Ian Wall]

Review to follow