Customer Reviews (1)

Not too bad
The book's range marks it as a tour de force of Nims' discursive erudition. By Sappho to Valéry, Nims clearly means Sappho, Valéry and everything in between. The book's contents span 27 centuries (from the seventh century BC to the early 1960s) in ten different languages (French, Spanish, Catalan, Greek, Latin, Italian, Galician, Provençal, German and, of course, English.)

I. The introductory essay

The book's introductory essay on translation is a refreshing read when one compares it to similar essays by such poetry-translators as Walter Arndt, Elizabeth Gray, W.S. Merwin or Mark Musa. Though he spends a little time dallying on the familiar tension in translation between what is being said and how it is being said, Nims does not make the fashionable (yet ultimately misleading) assertion that he is trying to balance the how and the what. Moreover, he actually takes the most unpopular position, stating that" poetry is less a matter of what is said than of how it is said."

This sentiment, though it has become an art-as-form cliché among authors of original poetry, is rarely if ever brought to bear on the issue of translating poetry.

Too often, verse-translators (whether they are poets, poetasters, or scholarly poet-impersonators) seem to think of translation as a brain-teaser. "I've got what the poem literally says" the translator seems to think, "now let's see how I can make this sound like a poem again without changing it too much." It baffles me how few poets realize that this is completely backwards from the way poetry normally comes into being. When writing your own poetry, you often know how you're going to say something before you even know what it is you're saying. Very few translators (Richard Wilbur is one) are skilled enough to reverse the process without making a mess of it.

Nims, on the other hand, is not trying to recapture the sense so much asto write poems that will, to some degree, show what certain poems in another language are like. One cannot translate a poem but one can try to reconstitute by taking the thought, the imagery, the rhythm, the sound, the qualities of diction...and then attempt to rework as many as possible into a poem in English.The essay goes on citing examples of successful instances of this in the work of poet-translators such as Jorge Guillén, Rilke and others.

In addition, Nims touches upon one of the most overlooked (and, in my opinion, most damaging) problems of translation. When poets translate poetry from various periods and authors, they tend to make them all sound a little too similar. In Robert Bly's work for example, poets as distinct from one another as Neruda and Hafiz end up sounding strangely alike (and strangely bad.) Nims aptly points the problem out when he says that "translations in which all the voices of the world's great poets speak with a single voice, in which Rilke and Sappho sound alike, may not satisfy all the possibilities of translation."

Well said, John. Well said.

II. The translations themselves

The translations themselves seem to represent Nims' attempt to implement the goals he sets forth in his introductory essay. Nims selection of what poets to translate seems to suggest a preference for poetry that, on the one hand uses colloquial diction and expressions to break with tradition and, on the other, employs traditional formal devices such as rhyme and meter to achieve effects of sound. In the brief introductions tomost of the poets, one can consistently see him praising these qualities. Ausiàs March is lauded for the many "proverbial and popular expressions" of his work and for being the "first to write poetry in his native Catalan instead of the more literary language [Provençal] glamorized by tradition." San Juan de la Cruz gets saluted for writing musical verse with "simple, everyday expressions, popular, colloquial words that occur in folk song and might be used by country people. Literary words almost never." Goethe is praised for "language for the most part fresh and simple...that go back to the dawn of human consciousness." Sappho is said to be great because "her simplicity comes through in the word order which is that of common sense (of impassioned common sense.) Her poems are almost without literary artifice... she was perhaps the only Greek poet to use the very words she heard around her."

You get the idea.

These are the qualities Nims' prizes and which he tries to bring out in his translations, and often it works spectacularly, particularly in the versions of Ausiàs March, for example:

Old Tityus with the vulture at his stomach,
Gobble by gobble sees the gashes heal,
and still the feast goes on, the great fowl jabbing.
Grimmer than this, the settled grief I feel.
For there's a worm that gnaws the brain's sweet tissue;
another gnaws the heart remorselessly.
Nothing to interrupt their devastation;
Nothing, except the one thing closed to me.

It is refreshing to see translations of poetry that have the gumption to sound like this. However, his desire for colloquial, unpretentious language seems to override his sense of the subtleties of tone and voice, and so he often fails his own test by making the poets represented in this collection sound inappropriately alike, inappropriatelylike him, or just plain inappropriate.

Goethe, for example, sometimes has his lines filled with inexcusable, inexplicable onomatopoeia, such as "cru-ungk!" and "whang!" for the sake of music. The songs of the troubadour poet Bernart de Ventadorn turn into unsingable verse laced with jarring words like "presto," "harum-scarum" or "hush-hush." Horace's poetry (which, unlike the rest of the poetry in this volume, has no reputation for being colloquial or simple) has its lovelorn boys turn into ribald Romeos with such streety expressions as "the hell with" or "rubbish!" Too often, Nims seems to forget that, though a poet might display colloquial idioms, they succeed in the original by being elevated to the level of literary production (check out Robert Frost for an example of a poet who does this in English.) Nims, on the other hand, often exaggerates the colloquial nature of the original.

In addition, Nims seems to take "colloquial diction" as a license to riddle his translations with clichés. This is O.K. occasionally in translations of Ausiàs March where the clichés are subverted by being put in new, interesting contexts. However, "clouds of dust" or "heart strong and warm" as translations of Rosario Castellanos' "polvaredas" or "sólida y caliente de entrañas" is simply an unimaginative waste of opportunity.

On the other hand, Nims occasionally gets carried away in the opposite direction and sacrifices simplicity, colloquial usage and even common sense to achieve music. I cannot see how "moroser/ moods that never long unloosen" is at all appropriate, in terms of diction, tone or even intelligibility, as a translation for "nin m'abandonarás nunca," a phrase by Rosalía de Castro meaning "you will never leave me behind." It does not sound at all like Rosalía in English. It sounds not only like Nims, but Nims at his worst.

Occasionally, these tendencies become so extreme as to turn the book into an utter parody of its mission. What is a reader to make, for example, of Catullus' famous lines:

Vivamus mea Lesbia atque amemus
Rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius æstimemus assis

when they are presented as this?

So let's live- really live!- for love and loving,
honey! Guff of the grumpy old harrumph-ers
-what's it worth? Is it even worth a penny?

While a sympathetic reader can appreciate the desire to show Catullus' work as something other than the stilted, sophomoric light verse it is usually translated as, passages like this make me wonder if Nims knows the meaning of the word "overkill" in any language. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

High hopes, low fulfillment
Since I've always been fascinated with Sappho, I was excited when I came across this book.What a disappointment.The writing is sketchy and unfleshed.The plot seems like little more than an excuse to show Sappholusting after everyone she comes into contact with.I never thought I'dsay this, but I actually got tired of lesbian sex scenes.Worst of all,the character of Sappho herself never becomes real or sympathetic.I hadhigh hopes for this book, and it didn't come close to fulfilling them. There are good points (interweaving of poetry into the text, details ofancient Greek culture, some intriguing insights) but they are faroutweighed by bad ones.

Sappho, the tenth muse is a difficult book to read.
Freedman's novel reads like non-fiction.99% of her extensive research appears to have found it's way onto the pages. Within the first 20 pages, Freedman offers a child abuse excuse for The Poetesses later fascinationwith her own gender.And, in these same 20 pages, Sappho is seen droolingover a collection of muscles and external genitalia with little brains whowill eventually exile her from her home. To make matters worse, Freedmanends with the apocraphal story of Sappho and Phaeon (a fiction fabricatedby Ovid for the amusement of Rome) For those of us who love The Lesbian,this novel will bring pain, sorrow and little enjoyment. This is not a bookI would recommend to lesbians or feminists. ... Read more

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She lived on the island of Lesbos around 600 B.C.E. She composed lyric poetry, only fragments of which survive. And she was--and is--the most highly regarded woman poet of Greek and Roman antiquity.

Little more than this can be said with certainty about Sappho, and yet a great deal more is said. Her life, so little known, is the stuff of legends; her poetry, the source of endless speculation. This book is a search for Sappho through the poetry she wrote, the culture she inhabited, and the myths that have risen around her. It is an expert and thoroughly engaging introduction to one of the most enduring and enigmatic figures of antiquity.Margaret Williamson conducts us through ancient representations of Sappho, from vase paintings to appearances in Ovid, and traces the route by which her work has reached us, shaped along the way by excavators, editors, and interpreters. She goes back to the poet's world and time to explore perennial questions about Sappho: How could a woman have access to the public medium of song? What was the place of female sexuality in the public and religious symbolism of Greek culture? What is the sexual meaning of her poems? Williamson follows with a close look at the poems themselves, Sappho's "immortal daughters." Her book offers the clearest picture yet of a woman whose place in the history of Western culture has been at once assured and mysterious.

Customer Reviews (1)

Most Comprehensive I've Read
Just fininshing up a history term paper here for my major, and I thought I'd drop off a good word for the best secondary source on Sappho's life and work that I've ever seen.Ms. Williamson leaves no rock unturned, noaspect of Sappho's work or life unaddressed, and manages to do it in anentertaining and comprehensive way without runninginto 500 pages!If youare interested in Sappho at all beyond the text of her extant poetry, thisis the book to buy! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Its All in the Translation...........
Daugthers of Sappho is one of the finest tranlsations I have ever read.She has chosen a select work from each of her Greek Contemporary Women Poets.And has done much justice to each one of them by her devine interpretation.I highly recommend this book.

I will miss you very much Rae. ... Read more

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Uniting the voices of thirty master poets, To a Nightingale traces the presence of literature's most celebrated bird from Sappho's fragments to the verse of Borges.

The collection reveals a time-honored, poetic discussion of grief, solitude, beauty, song, and artistic expression—a discussion that moved history's greatest literary minds to create their greatest works.

As Keats writes in his famous ode: "Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird...The voice I hear this passing night was heard in ancient days." His sentiment resounds throughout this book, echoing through the words of Milton, Shakespeare, Virgil, and other luminaries whose work directed the course of world literature. Bound by a common reverence for the nightingale's unchanging music, each author seems to speak intimately to the other, their sentiments resonating beautifully despite the passage of centuries.

To a Nightingale is a powerful homage that inspires appreciation not only for the nightingale herself, but also for the poets who collectively made her song sacred to us. This book will appeal to anyone seeking a glimpse into the world of celebrated poetry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An image both verbal and visually is enduringly impressive
Kameda Bosai is a Japanese poet and master of the 'ehon' (art-book) literary and artistic tradition of his country. The poetry and paintings of Kameda Bosai as compiled in the pages of this superbly presented edition of "Mountains of The Heart" elegantly portray the relationship between human beings and their environment. This poet/artist depicts homes lost in the mists of immense foothills, small figures wandering through rolling valleys, the transience of roads and buildings with the permanence of their natural surroundings. This is a book to be browsed through with an inevitable appreciation for a master storyteller and keen observer whose ability to inspire through a brush stroke and inform through an image both verbal and visually is enduringly impressive. "Mountains Of The Heart" is strongly recommended for personal, academic, and community library Japanese Culture & Art collections and supplemental reading lists. ... Read more

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The greatest woman poet of antiquity, Sappho wrote love poems full of passion and grace. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Substandard
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 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 stanzas and 5 syllables x 1 stanza". 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 stanza, "-dite" begins the second stanza. 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 stanza, "-uu--".However, these last stanzas 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.

my favorite translation of Sappho - the best
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.

The bonus material makes the book
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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The minor Poets.
Archilochos, the Warrior-Poet

On a time-scale Archilochos is the second poet after Homer. Like many of his colleagues his work survived only in fragments. Others are Sappho, Alkman, Herakleitos, and Herondas. Their poems were partially discovered on papyri, hidden under desert sand for more than two thousand years, a lot of fragments of those poets - and others - were also found in the "Banquet of Scholars" by Athenaeus. Even today, fragments on papyri are still discovered,most lately a poem by Sappho.

Archilochos was born in Paros in about 650 BC.In Antiquity this island was famous for its marble. He was a mercenary, a job close to that of a beggar.After he died his fellow countrymen honored him with a monument.

In this fragment Archilochos introduces himself. Between the lines he lets us know that he could use some money.

"My ash spear is my barley bread,
My ash spear is my Ismarian wine.
I lean on my spear and drink."

The next fragment is my favorite, when I read it I must think about E.A.Poe. In an incantatory way he speaks of his fear ( he was not a divine hero but a common man ),

"Watch, Glaukos, watch !
Heavy and high buckles the sea.
A cloud tall and straight
Has gathered on the Gyrean mountain-tops,
Forewarning of thunder, lightning, wind.
What we don't expect comes fearfully,
War, Glaukos, war ! "

"Sardis and Sparta."


Alcman was born in Sardis in the first half of the 7th century BC. Sardis was an ancient city in Asia Minor whose ruins lie near the western coast of modern Turkey. Later he became resident in Sparta, an austere community, certainly when you compare it with the luxury of Asia Minor where he was born. His masterpiece was "Hymn to Artemis". This amazing hymn was sung at the Feast of the Plow by girls dressed as doves. Beside Hymns, he liked to talk about the pleasures of a banquet, a good fireplace, and about the woes and pleasures of his old age.

Later he became a resident of Sparta. One could ask why the very austere Spartans were not against his poems as being signs of moral decadence. But in the following fragment he does sound like a Spartan.

"My hearth is cold but the day will come
When a rich pot of red bean soup
Is on the table, the kind Alcman loves,
Good peasant cooking, nothing fine.
The first day of autumn, you shall be my guest".

"Shimmering, iridescent, deathless Aphrodite."

In Antiquity decent women were supposed to work in the kitchen and to raise their children, nothing more, but there were exceptions. More or less 150 years after Homer's Iliad, Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos, west off the coast of what is Turkey today.. (She went in exile for a short period due to political upheavel).
Sappho was already famous in Antiquity. Plato called her the tenth Muse and someone said her poetry was "as refreshing as a morning breeze".
Very small fragments - only three or four words - are not included.
Some of the best poems of Sappho are those that describe her loneliness.
(#62)
"But if you are my friend,
Go to a younger woman's bed,
For I will not endure an affair
In which I am older than the man."
(#73)
"The moon has set,
And the Pleiades
Midnight
The hour has gone by
I sleep alone." ... Read more

Product Description

In this engaging essay Richard Jenkyns shows us how to read three quite different ancient poets. In a close and sensitive reading of Sappho, Catullus, and Juvenal, Jenkyns delineates the uniqueness of the poet's individual voice in relation to poetic traditions. His book constitutes a challenge to the view that one method will suffice for the interpretation of ancient poetry. He seeks to demonstrate that we can have no substitute for flexible and humane judgment, liberated from critical dogma, if we are to understand the great writers of the past. It is Jenkyns' appealing habit to clarify and illustrate his points by drawing analogies from modern and ancient literature. He deploys his wide learning with agility and grace.

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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SAPPHO TT is hardly possible to realise and judge of Sappho without realising her environment. The picture must have its background, and the background is Lesbos about the year 600 B.C. One may well regret never to have seen the island now called Mytilini, but known in ancient times as Lesbos. There are, however, descriptions not a few, and with these we must perforce be satisfied. On the map it lies there in the ^Egean

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at http://www.forgottenbooks.org ... Read more

Product Description
In this superb page-turner reminiscent of the great Maryrenault, Peggy Ullman bell brings tolife one of the most exciting andfascinating figures of the ancent world, Sappho, "the Poetess." Awoman who challenged convention, Sappho redefined the role of women inAncient Greece.

"Psappha" will surely rank as one of the best historical novels ofthis year. What makes it all the more extraordinary is that thisassured work marks Peggy Ullman Bell's debut as a novelist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Bias Artistic License?
I understand that there is very little we know of Sappho's life and while I knew this would be a novel, meaning the author used her imagination based on what little is known, I was not prepared to read something that leaned toward heterosexualizing her. I should not have been surprised since the heterosexual society we live in tends to take ownership of most artists even when there is evidence to support that most are gay.

However, we do have Sappho's poetry in which we can expand our imagination on who she was involved with, so I found the author's emphasis on Sappho's husband and her creation of an African Queen that Sappho had an affair with, a bit of an over reach, considering the author seemed to ignore all the poetry she wrote to women with real names, that she could have used to create historical characters rather than relying on a made up character like Queen Gyla.

The only Queen Gyla I know of was Swedish and lived many centuries after Sappho. I don't recall reading any love poems by Sappho written to her "beloved" husband. I'm not saying there weren't any as most of her work was destroyed. But one must understand that the ancient Greek culture of Sappho's world, marriages were usually planned way in advance and had nothing to do with romance and love but more to do with property rights. It probably was no different for Sappho's marriage.

But her love poems were real and she had names attached to those poems and they were women's names. Where were those women in this novel? Why were they ignored? Where were the characters that inspired Sapphos' greatest love poems? Like Andromeda and Atthis?

From the grateful author.
I'm taking this opportunity to thank all of you for your reviews.The good ones cheer me.The not so good ones will help me improve my writing.For the contributor of the most scathing review I send a quote borrowed from the forward of a much loved book by Rita Mae Brown.

"If you don't like my book, write your own.If you don't think I can write a novel, that ought to tell you something.If you think you can, do.No excuses.If you still don't like my novels, find a book you do like.Life is too short to be miserable.If you like my novels, I commend your good taste."

Review of Psappha
I'm not too good at putting things into words....but I can tell you that I enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoy Anne McCaffery.You make the characters so real...and describe the surroundings so well that I can see it....It's as though I'm right there, right in the middle of what's going on.I can identify with Psappha...and when the story stopped, I felt that I was hanging in mid air...that it was me in the story.That's how well this story is written....
I don't know if that's what people write in reviews, but that's what I felt about it...Wonderful story that I sure hope I can continue reading to the end...

ho hum
Although faithful to what is known of the ancient poet, this book did not fully hold my attention.I preferred Erica Jong's imaginative and gripping story Sappho's Leap.

Psappha - A Living Historical Novel
Peggy Ullman Bell's impeccable and devoted research into the life of Sappho brings the reader directly into the presence of this universally renowned poetess and the culture of her times. This novel has been written with tenderness as well as a fiery passion that keeps the reader entranced to the very last word. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a cute little book
I read this a decade ago, but I remember it being a cute little book.This is a fictional account of what it would be like to have been Sappho's female lover.It's so interesting to think about this years later.... Still, bisexual female readers may dislike this book because Sappho is portrayed as flighty compared to her all-lesbian lover.This book is kinda rough around the edges, like much 1970s early gay liberation texts.Still, this was cute and worth checking out. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more