Customer Reviews

The Collected Poems: with parallel Greek text (Oxford World's Classics)

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The translation is authentic and scholarly, maintaining the ironic and laconic aspects of the original Greek. For those with any knowledge of modern or ancient Greek, having the original Greek text on the facing page allows for the reader to enjoy Cavafy's brilliant use of the Greek language. For non-Greek readers, there is another volume by Edmund Keeley of Princeton University which is also very thoughtfully and respectfully translated. Both are a pleasure to read in English. I highly recommend this Oxfor World's Classic edition.

I don't know anything about Greek, but I have been a poet all my life and, ever since my late teens I have been told I needed to read Cavafy. He's the real thing. When I read him 35 years ago I, of course, wrestled with all the historical stuff. And the homoerotic poetry was cryptic to say the least. Mostly, I remember coming away from the book with a feeling that this was a very sober, very unhappy poet. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. He's still dark. I'd still like to take him out for a drink on a regular basis just to cheer him up. The historical stuff is less difficult and I have nothing but the most profound respect and appreciation for the beauty of his erotic poems. The sadness at the passing of youth and beauty is immediately comprehensible, no matter what floats your boat erotically. I've read it in Whitman, of course, A. E. Housman, Gide, and both Garcia Lorca and Cernuda. I'm happy with crediting half of my new attitude toward Cavafy to my own experience and the other half to the excellence of this new translation. It seems infinitely more direct, more personal than that old translation. A lot less scholarly starch and something more like a beating heart.

I like to read different translations of C.P. Cavafy and I would recommend this practice to other readers; you will find that he is well worth it. My first experience with his poetry was Rae Dalven's translation and while I liked it, it was Evangelos Sachperoglou's work that cemented Cavafy as my favorite poet. I suppose for American readers, the closest parallel to Cavafy's poems might be Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology; both let ordinary people tell their stories and we see how the poets create a world. The difference is the tone. Masters' is quite bitter while Cavafy's is one of sad irony. I particularly like his historical poems and he makes the past come alive (the notes explaining the historical context of the poems proved most helpful). I have a number of favorite poems. "Nero's Term" is about the notorious Roman emperor fatally misinterpreting a prophecy. "The Potentate From Western Libya" is the tale of a man who gains the reputation for being a profound intellectual while on a trip to Alexandria and the truth of the matter is classic Cavafy. "Myres: Alexandria, A.D. 340" is the narrative of a man whose Christian friend has died and the mourner finds himself uneasy with this new, rising faith. "Philhellene" is a monologue of a minor monarch discussing a design for a medallion and he is asking his aides not to do anything that might upset the Romans or to forget some detail. Cavafy's poetry is wonderfully human and one comes away feeling both sympathy and affection for his characters.

There is not much to say about this collection, really. Cavafy's poems, collected in both Greek and English are in this book. The edition is a standard trade paperback, and for the casual reader, it would be an affordable, good-quality edition of Cavafy's work. Anyone interested in owning the poems in both English and Greek should check this edition out.

At last! I can't read Greek 100% although i am Greek born, I just love seeing the Greek text alongside the English for this revered poet! Translations of C.P. Cavafy's poems do vary so this is an interesting way to tract the English and Greek, it engages the reader even more deeply into the emotional colour of this poet's works.