spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
This review is of the translation by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
So if you've ever listened to Leonard Cohen's song, "Alexandra Leaving," you might notice some similarities to the poem I'll be dissecting today, and that's because Cohen in fact adapted Cavafy's poem "Ἀπολείπειν ὁ θεὸς Ἀντώνιον" into the song. The poem is about Mark Antony after he lost the battle of Actium and was forced to flee back into the city of Alexandria to wait, besieged, for Augustus to come to kill him. The title of the poem, itself lifted verbatim from Plutarch's Lives (ἀπολείπειν ὁ θεὸς Ἀντώνιον), refers to how Antony reportedly heard the sounds of instruments and voices as a procession made its way through the city, to the gates, and through; the god Bacchus, Antony's protector, had deserted him.
This is the poem, in the original Greek:
So if you've ever listened to Leonard Cohen's song, "Alexandra Leaving," you might notice some similarities to the poem I'll be dissecting today, and that's because Cohen in fact adapted Cavafy's poem "Ἀπολείπειν ὁ θεὸς Ἀντώνιον" into the song. The poem is about Mark Antony after he lost the battle of Actium and was forced to flee back into the city of Alexandria to wait, besieged, for Augustus to come to kill him. The title of the poem, itself lifted verbatim from Plutarch's Lives (ἀπολείπειν ὁ θεὸς Ἀντώνιον), refers to how Antony reportedly heard the sounds of instruments and voices as a procession made its way through the city, to the gates, and through; the god Bacchus, Antony's protector, had deserted him.
This is the poem, in the original Greek:
And the translation by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard:Ἀπολείπειν ὁ θεὸς ἈντώνιονΣαν έξαφνα, ώρα μεσάνυχτ’, ακουσθεί
αόρατος θίασος να περνά
με μουσικές εξαίσιες, με φωνές—
την τύχη σου που ενδίδει πια, τα έργα σου
που απέτυχαν, τα σχέδια της ζωής σου
που βγήκαν όλα πλάνες, μη ανωφέλετα θρηνήσεις.
Σαν έτοιμος από καιρό, σα θαρραλέος,
αποχαιρέτα την, την Aλεξάνδρεια που φεύγει.
Προ πάντων να μη γελασθείς, μην πεις πως ήταν
ένα όνειρο, πως απατήθηκεν η ακοή σου·
μάταιες ελπίδες τέτοιες μην καταδεχθείς.
Σαν έτοιμος από καιρό, σα θαρραλέος,
σαν που ταιριάζει σε που αξιώθηκες μια τέτοια πόλι,
πλησίασε σταθερά προς το παράθυρο,
κι άκουσε με συγκίνησιν, αλλ’ όχι
με των δειλών τα παρακάλια και παράπονα,
ως τελευταία απόλαυσι τους ήχους,
τα εξαίσια όργανα του μυστικού θιάσου,
κι αποχαιρέτα την, την Aλεξάνδρεια που χάνεις.
This is quite a good translation.The God Abandons AntonyWhen suddenly, at midnight, you hear
an invisible procession going by
with exquisite music, voices,
don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
work gone wrong, your plans
all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.
Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say
it was a dream, your ears deceived you:
don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
As one long prepared, and graced with courage,
as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,
go firmly to the window
and listen with deep emotion, but not
with the whining, the pleas of a coward;
listen—your final delectation—to the voices,
to the exquisite music of that strange procession,
and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.
thewizzywizard's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
4.0
aaround132's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
5.0
the greek version that i read is clearly 5 stars, but i couldnt find it here so idk if i would rate the english version 5 stars too (probably not)
enoughgaiety's review against another edition
4.0
Sherrard and Keeley, incidentally, are the only ones who consistently translate Cavafy to my satisfaction.
amartinios's review against another edition
5.0
This has been a great book. When I took a (modern) Hellenic class at university we were introduced to Kavafis. The poem that struck me most of those we read was "Epestrephe" (Come Back, p. 78-79 in this book). This inspired me to find a bilingual edition of Kavafis' poetry, one of the teachers directed me towards this book. I have enjoyed it a great deal, disparate though my reading was; coming in burst with regular hiatuses in between lasting months. I am glad to have finally finished the book. I enjoyed Kavafis' style and subject matter a great deal. I can recommend this book to anyone studying modern Hellenic.
italo_carlvino's review against another edition
4.0
Cavafy's poems are often profound, wry, ironic, clever, and sincere. I love the history poems. But the poems about cafes, streets, and loves are just as great as his most famous mythical and historical poems. Though, at times the history is so obscure the poems can feel alienating, especially without notes explaining the history. Despite this negative Cavafy is a great poet. Would recommend.
pagesandprozac's review against another edition
5.0
the wonderful e.m. forster describes cavafy as "a Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe", and it's impossible to sum up this man and his astounding body of work in any other way.
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