The greatest woman poet of antiquity, Sappho wrote love poems full of passion and grace.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
my favorite translation of Sappho - the best,
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This review is from: Sappho Eman Poet Lib #56 (Everyman Poetry) (Paperback)
I once read an essay by a classicist in which he said that a discovery of a complete work of Sappho's would be an unrivaled event in the field of classical literature. She has no equivalent. No other poet before or since has been as revered. The merest fragments of her original work are quoted and studied as if they were whole and intact poems. All her work was destroyed, and almost all of what remains is from passages quoted by others of her era.
I'm paraphrasing, but the classicist said something to the effect of how it is as if we are outside in the garden, straining to hear the faintest snatches of Beethoven's masterworks while he is sealed in inside the house. To discover a complete work by Sappho would be as if the master opened a window called out to us, and beckoned us in to hear his work, unmarred by distance and the imperfection of memory. This translation, by Robert Chandler, is my favorite because of its clarity and simplicity, and I have read some twenty-odd different translations of Sappho. It is a classic and it is unfortunate that it is currently out of print, but if you can pick up a copy cheaply, do it. I agree with a previous reviewer that the additional material is great, bit I must disagree on recommending Anne Carson. I feel a visceral dislike of Carson's translation - she muddies up Sappho's verse with too much of her own rather baroque voice.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The bonus material makes the book,
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This review is from: Sappho Eman Poet Lib #56 (Everyman Poetry) (Paperback)
Having read several translations of Sappho, this collection is not my favorite. However, there is much to recommend in this collection. The poems themselves are good translations in their capturing of the raw emotions Sappho communicated. If it is Sappho's poetry exclusively you are interested in, though, I would recommend Anne Carson's _If Not Winter_. If you are interested in more that Sappho - earlier translations and poetry inspired by her, this is an excellent place to start.
In fact, it is precisely this additional material that makes this such a wonderful collection. The collection begins with Chandler's translations of many of Sappho's poems. Following this is a collection of 21 other translations of different fragments by other poets from Alfred, Lord Tennyson and William Carlos Williams to Thomas Hardy and Byron. Comapring the two is a fascinating exercise. The real gem of the collection, though, is the poetry inspired by or dedicated to Sappho, including a pair of poems by Chandler to Sappho. For an introduction to Sappho, this would be a good place to start, simply because of the additional material.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Substandard,
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This review is from: Sappho Eman Poet Lib #56 (Everyman Poetry) (Paperback)
It is said that the poem cannot be translated completely in any languages. Mr Chandler, in conclusion, has rendered the Sappho's by only "equivalent syllables" (but not the same rhythm). And it is very intentionally made.
So far as the "Hymn to Aphrodite", there are many translations in English on the same style of which constructed by "11 syllables x 3 lines and 5 syllables x 1 line". I will show some poets or translators who did it, below. E.Arnold 1869, T.W.Higginson 1871, M.J.Walhouse 1877, J.A.Symonds 1883, A.S.Way 1920, E.M.Cox 1925, R.Lattimore 1949, J.Powell 1993, E.Vandiver 1997. When I think of it, I never agree to the "cut in half to Aphrodite" such as Chandler's. "Aphro-" places at the end of the first line, "-dite" begins the second line. This technique is entirely nonsense. It should not be considered simply good for if there were still put in order of "11 syllables" in its translated poems. Chandler's rendering is closely placed to R.Lattimore's "Invocation to Aphrodite", or to J.Powell's. That is particularly resembled to where in the "broken sentence,-(cutting)". I don't like a way for its broken sentence. Because it is an unnatural way for making the 11 or 5 syllables. Only some of Chandler's the fourth line's 5 syllables show like as Sapphic last line, "-uu--". However, these last lines are succeeded by many other translators also, not only Chandler. In this book, Part Two has few worth. Part Three has a little worth. Everyman's books are always valuable generally, but this one was unexpected.
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