hyacinths's review
5.0
the first poem I ever read by cavafy was "longings":
Like the beautiful bodies of those who died before they had aged
sadly shut away in a sumptuous mausoleum,
roses by the head, jasmine at the feet,
so appear the longings that have passed
without being satisfied, not one of them granted
a night of sensual pleasure, or one of its radiant mornings.
it was the epigraph to a book I'd just bought, and I fell in love with it immediately. then, shortly after, I noticed that marguerite yourcenar, one of my most adored and respected authors, had written a critical introduction to cavafy found in her essay collection the dark brain of piranesi. so then of course I had to read all of his works.
and how I enjoyed them! I did not know a poet like this existed - hellenistic, byzantine, ancient, scenes of banal life popping suddenly with profundity, plainly but not obscenely erotic, with an almost obsessive focus on beauty and the picturesque beloved, modern and historical at once. I have only just grazed the surface of this volume and already I have a million underlines and little notes to myself - I'm sure I will return, loving pencil in hand, many times to come.
Like the beautiful bodies of those who died before they had aged
sadly shut away in a sumptuous mausoleum,
roses by the head, jasmine at the feet,
so appear the longings that have passed
without being satisfied, not one of them granted
a night of sensual pleasure, or one of its radiant mornings.
it was the epigraph to a book I'd just bought, and I fell in love with it immediately. then, shortly after, I noticed that marguerite yourcenar, one of my most adored and respected authors, had written a critical introduction to cavafy found in her essay collection the dark brain of piranesi. so then of course I had to read all of his works.
and how I enjoyed them! I did not know a poet like this existed - hellenistic, byzantine, ancient, scenes of banal life popping suddenly with profundity, plainly but not obscenely erotic, with an almost obsessive focus on beauty and the picturesque beloved, modern and historical at once. I have only just grazed the surface of this volume and already I have a million underlines and little notes to myself - I'm sure I will return, loving pencil in hand, many times to come.
More...