A review by msand3
Archilochos, Sappho, Alkman: Three Lyric Poets of the Seventh Century B.C. by Guy Davenport, Archilochos, Alkman, Sappho

5.0

An essential collection of the surviving work of three Greek lyric poets. The translations are simple and direct, with brackets and notes denoting missing text. Davenport does not embellish the surviving fragments or (even worse) try to guess or “reconstruct” what may have been written in the damaged sections of the manuscripts. The result (especially for the fragments from Archilochus) is an almost otherworldly feel. Sometimes we are forced to use our imaginations to fill in missing text; at other times we can only marvel at the stark beauty and modernist-looking juxtaposition of the remaining few words of text. Complete single lines of verse remain in a few instances, leading one to wonder if these were preserved as quotations taken from later manuscripts. The mystery is part of the allure, and I found some of the smaller fragments more enjoyable to read that the longer, more complete poems.