The Collected Poems of C. P. Cavafy: A New Translation

About this book

A new translation of a poet widely considered one of the most important of the twentieth century. C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) has written some of the most powerful poems in history. His work uncannily translates history the record of the many into an individual personal document. Though Cavafy is wickedly satirical many of his poems are located in a landscape of intimacy. Drawing on the spectrum of ancient Greek poetic tradition his poetry is still internal whether his speaker is a spoiled rich boy who plans to enter politics or a poor ostracized pure and beautiful young man destroyed by poverty and priggish social mores. In these glimmering and lyrical translations with an introduction and scholarly endnotes cowritten with Willis Barnstone Aliki Barnstone has been faithful to the original Greek capturing both Cavafys song and his vernacular in ways neglected in previous translations. Paying close attention to tone and diction she has employed her well-tuned poets ear making Cavafys verse breathe new music in English.