Paul Cartledge, Sunday Telegraph
"Propertius was one of the "big five" Roman elegists of the first century BC".
Paul Cartledge , Sunday Telegraph
[Ezra Pound] was famously taken with the Umbrian's lively, pompous, eloquent, pedantic, subtle and comic qualities.
Book Description
The Roman poet Propertius is best known as the writer who perfected the Latin love elegy, a technical as much as a psychological and cultural feat. Propertius has been admired for both his metrical genius and the modernity of his narrative flow. Many of the poems here pay tribute to Cynthia, Propertius's romantic obsession, but the scope of these 107 elegies is broad. Propertius's poetry offers a fascinating look into life in the Augustan age, addressing social, political, and historical subjects. A contemporary of Virgil and Horace, Propertius has influenced scores of poets--from Ovid to Housman to Pound. His poetry appears here for the first time in a dual-language edition with the translations facing the original Latin. Rendered into English by a poet who is also one of the nation's pre-eminent Propertius experts, the volume brings Propertius's difficult mix of vernacular and high literary allusion into contemporary language. Cynthia was the first. She caught me with her eyes, a foolwho had never before been touched by desires.Love cast down my look of constant pride,and he pressed on my head with his feet,until he taught me to despise chaste girls,perversely, and to live without plan.Already, it's been a whole year that the frenzy hasn't stopped,when, for all that, the gods are against me.
Complete Elegies of Sextus Propertius FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Roman poet Propertius is best known as the writer who perfected the Latin love elegy, a technical as much as a psychological and cultural feat. Propertius has been admired for both his metrical genius and the modernity of his narrative flow.
Many of the poems here pay tribute to Cynthia, Propertius' romantic obsession, but the scope of these 107 elegies is broad. propertius' poetry offers a fascinating look into life in the Augustan age, addressing social, political, and historical subjects. A contemporary of Vergil and Horace, Propertius has influenced scores of poets -- from Ovid to Housman to Pound.
His poetry appears here for the first time in a dual-language edition with the translations facing the original Latin. Rendered into English by a poet who is also one of the nation's preeminent Propertius experts, the volume brings Propertius' difficult mix of vernacular and high literary allusion into contemporary language.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Perhaps more immediate than Ezra Pound's "Homage..." are The Complete Elegies of Sextus Propertius himself, in Latin and translated by veteran poet and translator Vincent Katz (Understanding Objects), who also provides an introduction. The Roman poet, who lived from 50 to 16 B.C.E, is here in all his suggestive glory ("The girl alone erects my genius"), articulating an empiric era that feels closer than ever. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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