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.
Mary Barnard (1909–2001) was a prominent American poet, translator, and biographer with many books in her repertoire. She studied Greek at Reed College and began to translate at Ezra Pound's suggestion in the 1930s. Her Assault on Mount Helicon: A Literary Memoir was published by the University of California Press in 1984. Two years later she received the Western States Book Award for her book-length poem, Time and the White Tigress. She also published prose fiction and a volume of essays on mythology as well as the original lyrics gathered in Collected Poems.
“As nearly perfect an English translation as one can find, a great translation, an immensely moving translation, complete, beautiful, deserving of endless praise.”—Hudson Review
“Sappho remains one of the finest renderings of Greek poetry into English.”—American Poetry
"A major translation from the Greek.”—New York Times Book Review
“Expressing the bare, lyrical intensity of Sappho’s poetry without recourse to excessive linguistic ornament or narrative padding, Mary Barnard’s translation is widely regarded as the best in modern idiom.”—Synthesis
"A rival translator called [Sappho] 'the best Greek translation in American literature.'"—Journal of Modern Literature
“Mary Barnard brought Sappho to the American public.”—Reed Magazine
128 pp.5 x 7.75
9780520305564$17.95|£14.99Paper
May 2019