Greek Lyric Poetry: A New Translation

by Sherod Santos (Translator)

Winner of the Umhoefer Prize: "A magnificent achievement, better, more animated, buoyant, and richly articulated than any other version I know."―Anthony Hecht Sherod Santos's new translation of classical poems answers Rosetti's mandate that "the only true motive for putting poetry into a fresh language must be to endow a fresh nation…with one more possession of beauty." Arranged into four periods―Classical, Hellenic, Roman, and Early Byzantine― Greek Lyric Poetry features works by such ancient masters as Xenophanes, Callimachus, Sappho, and Simonides. For the general reader as well as for poets and lovers of poetry, the translations celebrate the marvelous slips and illuminating reconfigurations that occur when a poet in the present communes with poets in the past.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, History, Greece, Mythology

202 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If every book were like this book, I would never stop reading. This is poetry at its purest and most immediate. Each of these poems is like a spurt of smokeless fire emanating from an unbridled dragon's mouth: a single, clear, purposeful utterance so impassioned that it can't be held back. These old-timers were able to transform even the most trivial events in their lives into compact little verbal gems that could stand on their own:

"Hurry to market, Demetrius, and purchase
from Amyntas three salted herring,
ten nicely trimmed fillets of sole, and have him shell
a large handful of his freshest prawns.

"After that, rush over to Thauborius's stall,
pick up one of those incense-scented
barberry wreaths he loops around with bands of silk.
I'll be pouring out the wine by then

and lighting lamps and candles, so hurry back home
as fast as you can. And, since you'll pass
his doorway anyhow, why don't you stop and ask
Tryphera to come and join us, too?"

--Asclepiades

I'm not familiar with the ancient Greek language, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the translations, but it seemed to me that the translations were elegant, piquantly worded, and written with a fine sense of poetic timing -- The last lines of many of these poems really packed a punch.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading words written between 700BC and 600AD should be a real experience and a cause of wonder.
IT IS !!!!
....because they are as fresh as if they, had been written yesterday!!These poems range from the bawdy to the tragic.
It's all here:
Lust, regret, sorrow, love of nature, politics, war, heroics, humour, religion, romance, animals, food, eulogies, even a poem on the invention of glass!!!!
Externals in dress,weapons,architecture etc may have altered but the basics of human nature have never altered.
These poets touch you.

Sherod Santos has done a brilliant translation of about 154 poems from The Greek Anthology, the one thousand year old collection of 4000 poems from the Greek-speaking world.

Unfortunately poetry scares many people,
but pop song lyrics ARE poetry and look how we LOVE those. Broaden your love-affair with the poets. They get to the essence of all that stuff we like or love to hate: politicians, war , love, sex, food.
YUMMY!

[britt helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

the yearning

[Al Bità · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection and a wonderful translation. The voices of these ancient poets evoke sentiments that still resonate with us today. It is perhaps surprising to feel their presence — as if they were writing today. There is nothing ancient about these feelings. If nothing else, they show us that deep down, where it really counts, we are still very much the same human beings!

These gems are indeed precious ones. One can only metaphorically clasp them to oneself protectively, as if they were one's own thoughts and feelings.

Beautiful, sensuous, beguiling, emotional, moving... What more could anyone want?

[George Tsalamandris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somebody will remember us. Even if it is in another time.

[Lauren Ballinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

BANNNGGGEEERRR

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, so amazing.

[jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“for only in oblivion is oblivion bared”

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good cross section of style and themes. Some of the works are so modern sounding they could have been straight from 1960s poetry scene.

[Milo Peregrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the most accurate, but it wasn't trying to be. A beautiful and invoking read.

[Angharad · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I need a good cry, I flip through this one to a random page and read its associated poem, beginning to end. There's something about something as transient and fleeting as word being able to survive eons, falls of civilizations, risings of new ones, and entire theological restructurings. I really do get emotional just thinking about it, that we are mortal beings, but we can achieve a brief taste of immortality through the lingering word, and how so often we just that limited time to write about immortal gods, love, and loss.

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very beautiful, contemporary, and incredibly unfaithful translations (or maybe "transformations) of the ancient Greek lyrics. I've read like 700 pages of these today and this seems like this perfect place to stop.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The boy gave me this for Valentine's Day:). It was a pleasure to read. It will surprise you how fresh and relevant verses written thousands of years ago sound to you.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Selections cover 700 bc to 600 ad