Sappho And Catullus In Twentieth Century Italian And North American Poetry

Going beyond exclusively national perspectives, this volume considers the reception of the ancient Greek poet Sappho and her first Latin translator, Catullus, as a literary pair who transmit poetic culture across the world from the early 20th century to the present. Sappho's and Catullus' reception has shaped a transnational network of poets and intellectuals, helping to define ideas of origins, gender, sexuality and national identities. This book shows that across time and cultures translations and rewritings of Sappho and Catullus articulate modernist poetics of myth and fragmentation, forms of confessionalism and post-modern pastiche. The inquiry focuses on Italian and North American poetry as two central yet understudied hubs of Sappho's and Catullus' modern reception, also linked by a rich mutual intellectual exchange: key case-studies include Giovanni Pascoli, Ezra Pound, H.D., Salvatore Quasimodo, Robert Lowell, Rosita Copioli and Anne Carson, and cover a wide range of unpublished archival material. Texts are analysed and compared through reception and translation theories and inserted within the current debate on the Classics as World Literature, demonstrating how sustained transnational poetic discourse employs the ancient pair to expand notions of literary origins and redefine poetry's relationship to human existence.

Going beyond exclusively national perspectives, this volume considers the reception of the ancient Greek poet Sappho and her first Latin translator, Catullus, as a literary pair who transmit poetic culture across the world from the early 20th century to the present. Sappho's and Catullus' reception has shaped a transnational network of poets and intellectuals, helping to define ideas of origins, gender, sexuality and national identities. This book shows that across time and cultures translations and rewritings of Sappho and Catullus articulate modernist poetics of myth and fragmentation, forms of confessionalism and post-modern pastiche. The inquiry focuses on Italian and North American poetry as two central yet understudied hubs of Sappho's and Catullus' modern reception, also linked by a rich mutual intellectual exchange: key case-studies include Giovanni Pascoli, Ezra Pound, H.D., Salvatore Quasimodo, Robert Lowell, Rosita Copioli and Anne Carson, and cover a wide range of unpublished archival material. Texts are analysed and compared through reception and translation theories and inserted within the current debate on the Classics as World Literature, demonstrating how sustained transnational poetic discourse employs the ancient pair to expand notions of literary origins and redefine poetry's relationship to human existence.

The volume combines for the first time the fields of Classical Reception and World Literature in a pioneering collection of essays by world-leading scholars on modern poetry from various cultural and linguistics backgrounds (Arabic, Chinese, creole, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Spanish).

The Poems of Catullus describes the lifestyle of the Latin poet Catullus, his friends, and his lover, Lesbia. Catullus writes about each of his subjects in tones unique to them. With wild stories of the trouble and comradery shared by his friends, Catullus provides insight on more scandalous aspects of high society Roman culture. However, Catullus’ most shocking and compelling subject is his lover, Lesbia, the wife of an aristocrat. The two share a secret and sensual love, taboo not just because of the infidelity, but because Lesbia is many years older than Catullus. Throughout his poems, Catullus depicts their complicated relationship, first in a tender, lustful way, detailing their affairs, then gradually becomes more heated with angst and confusion. In his exploration of their relationship, Catullus embodies the possibility of simultaneously loving and hating someone. With vivid emotion and imagery, The Poems of Catullus provide a clear picture of the poet, his friends, and his lover and invoke a strong impression on its audience. Because of the deep emotions infused with each word and the visceral depictions of ancient Roman life, this collection of poetry is relatable to a modern-day audience, and is an essential educational source. Catullus paved the way and inspired change in the art of poetry, influencing countless poets and poetry styles. The Poems of Catullus also helped create the idea of poetry as a profession. The Poems of Catullus serves a valuable and educational source, enlightening audiences on the culture of the upper-class of the late Roman Republic. However, because Catullus also explores the complex human emotions regarding friendship, sex, and love, The Poems of Catullus have proven to be a timeless testament to the duality of humankind, embracing emotions that lie between the extremes in the spectrum of feeling. Catering to a contemporary audience, this edition of The Poems of Catullus features a new, eye-catching cover design and is reprinted in a modern font to accompany the timeless exploration of human emotion and the humorous, exciting life events of the influential poet Catullus.

Background and Analysis of An Opera Composed By The American Poet Ezra Pound, With Music Scores And Facsimile Pages of Archival Music Documents.

Sappho is perhaps the most widely read poet of Greek and Roman antiquity. As poet, as legendary literary figure, Sappho has fascinated readers ever since she composed her poems on the island of Lesbos at the close of the seventh century B.C.E. Sappho's intense, burning verses of feminine desire have presided over the Western lyric much the way Homer's epics have occupied their authoritative position in Western literature. Indeed, Sappho's poetry and her persona have captivated the Western imagination for centuries. While she remains an iconic and influential figure throughout much of the lyric tradition in the West, her poetry has clearly provoked a good deal of curiosity and criticism as well. The origins of the modern meaning of "lesbian" most likely can be traced to Sappho, the woman poet from Lesbos. Many of Sappho's poems evoke a community of women whose relationship to one another is arguably homoerotic. In some of her poems, Sappho herself expresses passionate, erotic feelings toward another woman. Even in poems that do not deal explicitly with love, Sappho often depicts herself as part of a world in which the emotional and/or erotic bonds between women take center stage. Since ancient Greek society was largely male-dominated, Sappho's ostensible focus on a "woman-centered" world in her poetry has, at least in part, made her a fascinating yet vexing subject of speculation and fantasy. Although only forty fragments of her work are long enough to be intelligible, her influence on the Western poetic tradition is undeniable. For many male writers, from Catullus and Ovid in ancient Rome to Swinburne, Tennyson, and Baudelaire in the modern era, Sappho represents the paradigmatic poetic voice of feminine desire and sexuality. For many women poets through the ages, Sappho has represented the literary foremother who gave them a poetic tradition of their own. There are few poets of the ancient world -- apart from Homer and Virgil -- whose legacy has cast such a wide net. Sappho's work covers a broad range of themes and concerns: romantic love, fellowship and community, myth and ritual, politics, and philosophical reflections on nobility and goodness. This book will present a broad overview of these themes and situate Sappho's poetry within the performative and cultural context of ancient Lesbos, discuss the major literary conventions, themes, and poetic devices employed by Sappho, and examine Sappho's presentations of eros and feminine sexuality. It will discuss Sappho's reception in Roman antiquity and in modern eras from the Renaissance through the twentieth century. This book will help illuminate Sappho's importance in Western poetic tradition and, more significantly, make Sappho's poetic world come alive for the contemporary non-specialist reader.