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Sappho: A New Translation
 
 

Sappho: A New Translation (Paperback)

~ Mary Barnard (Author), Dudley Fitts (Foreword)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

List Price: $10.95
Price: $9.31 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  Paperback, August 3, 2009 $8.00 $8.00 $17.52
  Paperback, June 1958 $9.31 $2.99 $0.01
  Unknown Binding, December 31, 1931 -- -- --

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Sappho: A New Translation + The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenides (Penguin Classics) + The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics)
Price For All Three: $26.52

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Editorial Reviews

Review

An immensely moving translation, complete, beautiful, deserving of endless praise. -- Hudson Review


Product Description

These hundred poems and fragments constitute virtually all of Sappho that survives and effectively bring to life the woman whom the Greeks consider to be their greatest lyric poet. Mary Barnard's translations are lean, incisive, direct--the best ever published. She has rendered the beloved poet's verses, long the bane of translators, more authentically than anyone else in English. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 124 pages
  • Publisher: University of California Press; 1st edition (June 1958)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0520011171
  • ISBN-13: 978-0520011175
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,258,897 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Sappho
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Sappho: A New Translation
83% buy the item featured on this page:
Sappho: A New Translation 4.5 out of 5 stars (6)
$9.31
The Complete Poems of Sappho
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The Complete Poems of Sappho 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
$12.71
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
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If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho 4.7 out of 5 stars (15)
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Eros the Bittersweet
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "there's so much beauty...", March 7, 2002
Rich Mullins once wrote "there's so much beauty around us for just two eyes to see." And so it is with the poetry of this ancient Greek lady Sappho. Without her extra eyes, I would be robbed of some sights I could not have found without her. For instance, in one of her poems, she writes:

"Awed by her splendor

Stars near the lovely
moon cover their own
bright faces
when she
is roundest and lights
earth with her silver"

Not only is there beauty. There is a straightforwardness and frankness to the poems of Sappho. It is a clear distillation of the poet's vision confronts the readers of these pages.

There is also wisdom and humor. As when she writes:

"Experience shows us

Wealth unchaperoned
by Virtue is never
an innocuous neighbor"

Mary Barnard is to be praised for these clear, unvarnished translations. Likewise, the introduction is very useful in dispelling so much of the myth that has sprung up around the legacy of this great poet. I recommend this book highly.

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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A pure earthy pleasure, August 23, 2000
By M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Bernard's translation of Sappho is a translation of a poet who is down-to-earth, who pays attention to the detail.

Some of the fragments are so brief that you are reminded of haiku: "The nightengale's / The soft-spoken / announcer of / Spring's presence"

Other poems speak specifically of feminine concerns - the lost of the maiden-head, the color of ribbon that fits best in her daughter's yellow hair.

I read a great deal of poetry in translation. In other translations I have not found Sappho to my liking. This translation appears to me to be truer to the author's earthliness and less concerned with making Sappho fit into preconceptions. In short, I highly recommend this translation.

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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless, November 17, 1999
By A Customer
Beutiful. Read it to someone you love.

The copy may seem spare at first but the power of Sappho's words more than fill the page. I was first introduced to this text by a dear friend. That is how you should share it. This translation is both complete and avoids overly politicizeing her life. Well worth the price.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensual beauty in its purest form
Sappho's poetry, long the most famous of ancient literature, is rendered superbly in this translation by Mary Barnard. Read more
Published 6 months ago by mianfei

3.0 out of 5 stars lovely, yet far away
I hate to say it, but this book made me somewhat regret studying Ancient Greek. I was given a copy by a friend and utterly adored it. It lived in my purse. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Triona Terry

5.0 out of 5 stars the Lesbian lesbian
Because Sappho was a Lesbian who wrote about lesbian love, her poetry was banned at times throughout the ages, and therefore to this day there are only surviving fragments of her... Read more
Published on July 20, 2004 by I ain't no porn writer

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