Discussion
Michael Wolfe's New Book and What Poets & Scholars Are Saying
Over a hundred tiny poems, some dating back to the dawn of Greek writing, collected in five historical sections with spare introductions that offer a context for these delicate, intimate bits of tombstone verse, one to a page with the Greek and the English, each summing up in a handful of words another ancient life. These epitaphs are anything but morbid: Tile by tile, they form a vivid mosaic, full of life.
Simply stunning.” Richard Wilbur
These translations are alive and potent. They are something very special. Funny, moving, cutting, ferocious.” Philip Levine
“Exquisite, economical proof that nothing ever changes. A wonderful book!” Kay Ryan
“A book Keats would deeply appreciate. A book to keep handy by bed or bath.” Bill Berkson
"…Presented in beautiful translations followed by the originals. Often faithful, almost line-by-line translations are offered... Excessive rhetorical devices are avoided…The author tends to respect the very structure of the originals...These devices, combined with a plain and simple language, produce a sober musicality that fully captures the forceful and unaffected style of the Greek texts...This is the book of a poet, not of a scholar: it will make excellent reading for a non-specialist audience. Those not acquainted with the Greek, in particular, will be given an idea of the sound of the original poems." --The Classical Journal.
Woman with stylus and wax tablet, thinking. Pompeii.
Meleager's Epitaph. A Greek Translation by Michael Wolfe
My father was Eucrates.
Meleager is my name.
Born in Gadara, Palestine
I came of age in Tyre...
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Click on the Blog page above for a full translation.