The Infinite Moment: Greek Poetry

by Sam Hamill (Translator)

The Infinite Moment is a personal selection made by a poet known for his elegant translations from several languages, Chinese, Japanese, Estonian, Latin, and now ancient Greek. Drawing from the classic Lyra Graeca and The Greek Anthology , Sam Hamill has made new, American translations of poems in the thousand-year tradition that begins with Sappho, Alcaeus, and Anakreon in the 6th century C.E. The love poems, epigrams, and sly invective of over forty poets remind us once again of the deep wellspring of ancient Greece that nourished the roots of so many cultures. The Greek lyric poem was made to be performed with musical accompaniment, but like its modern descendent it seeks to articulate the experience of insight attained in the infinity of the moment. Says "The fundamental experiences of humanity remain simultaneously universal and particular. The tears of Lymnos on the banks of the Akeron are the same tears Hitomaro shed a thousand years later on the shores of the Omi Sea."

Genres: Poetry

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Poet, editor, translator, and essayist, Sam Hamill is author of more than thirty books including two from BOA Editions, Gratitude (1998), and Dumb Luck(2002). He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, two Washington Governor’s Arts Awards, the Stanley Lindberg Lifetime Achievement Award for Editing, and the Washington Poets Association Lifetime Achievement Award for poetry. He co-founded Copper Canyon Press, and has worked extensively in prisons and with battered women and children.

Reviews

[Brad Feld · Rating 5 out of 5]

"While all the world around us may undergo profound transformation - for better or for worse - the fundamental mental human condition remains virtually unchanged over two millennia."

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eros, playing among the roses,
didn't see the bee.
Stung, he howled,
he screamed to Aphrodite,

"I'm dying! Mother! I'm dying!
I was bitten by
a snake with wings!"
And she kissed him and replied,

"It will pass. It was only a bee,
my darling, but think
how long the suffering
of all those who feel your sting."

The above poem by Anakreon, one of my favorites, is one included in this exceptionally beautiful collection of poems from Ancient Greece. The translator, Sam Hamill, has included poems from Sapphon, Alcaeus, Anakreon, and Paulus Silentiarius. In addition there is a selection of lyrical and love poems from several different sources ranging from Bacchykides and Likymnios to Meleager, Rufinus, and Marcus Argentarius. While the collection is small the poems invite the reader to delight in them again and again.

[Eric Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this little collection. I plucked it from a pile books at 5:00 am this morning, while sipping coffee, and I finished it in the park near my apartment, listening to birds, about 2 hours later, while waiting for the streetcar to whisk me to work.

It's a wonderful introduction to Ancient Greek lyric poetry, from the bawdy and bibulous to the painfully beautiful. The Sappho translations are my favorites. Many of these poems only survive as fragments. And yet, the clarity and the intimacy of her voice after 2600 years is simply astonishing.

It gives us all hope.

[Persephone Olive · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this tiny little book in a horde of poetry shelves in a used bookstore, I picked up hoping it would be a simple breeze and nice addition to my personal collection.
The introduction to Sappho (who has been fully and beautifully translated by Anne Carson) was surprisingly, void of any mention of her poetry/songs being mainly about loving women. To no surprise, the poems/fragments selected were not only vague of who they were mentioning but translated to a dialect not at all akin to ancient greek cadence. I saw 'Tart' ... in a Sappho poem. The rest was horrendously chosen and the most objectifying poems one could read. There is a plethora of greek poems about love. The translations were at time frustrating.
-_- there were a few the stood out to me as palatable, mostly about love and aging rather than big milky breasts. I am aware of greek culture and its very open stance towards sexuality...alas..... Men don't change.

[Roger Barnstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to read this again. Devoured it.

[Fernando Duenas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Especially the Afterword.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a good selection of poems. However, if using for homeschool, be sure and review first as some are very suggestive adult themed selections. Many have those wonderful "truths" and parables. One such Kydios selection: "Beware, there are fauns/who, facing the lion,/ die of fright just thinking/the lion might be hungry." However, I prefer another Sappho translation for the poem about the man she thinks is a God.