C.P.Cavafy Collected Poems
SynopsisPlot
The Greek poet C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) lived most of his life in Alexandria, where he was content to circulate his work only among a select group of readers; but since his death he has come to be recognised and widely enjoyed as one of the great poets of the twentieth century in any language celebrated for his elegant formal structures, for his brilliant reanimation of myth and for his subtle treatment of erotic experience.
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About this book
Constantine P. Cavafy was born in 1863 and spent most of his life in Alexandria, Egypt, writing in Greek and sharing his poems only with a chosen circle of readers rather than seeking a wide public. He issued no conventional collected volume during his lifetime. After his death in 1933 his reputation grew steadily, and he is now read as one of the twentieth century's major poets.
This edition gathers about one hundred and seventy-five poems, the body of mature work, in an English translation that keeps his plain, conversational use of language. It carries over his direct writing about homosexual desire, his lasting attachment to Hellenism, meaning the Greek cultural world that spread far beyond Greece itself, and the cool political skepticism that runs through his historical pieces.
Many poems place figures from myth and from the later Greek and Roman past in small, exactly observed moments, held inside careful formal structures. Notes by George Savidis give the date of composition for each poem, point out unusual metrical arrangements, and explain mythological and historical references, with biographical and bibliographical material included as well.
