C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933) is now considered by many to be the most
original and influential Greek poet of this century. The qualities of
his poetry that were unfashionable during his lifetime are the very ones
that make his work endure: his sparing use of metaphor; his evocation of
spoken rhythms and colloquialisms; his use of epigrammatic and dramatic
modes; his aesthetic perfectionism; his frank treatment of homosexual
themes; his brilliantly alive sense of history; and his commitment to
Hellenism, coupled with an astute cynicism about politics.
The translations in Selected Poems are completely new. Realizing that
Cavafy's language is closer to the spoken idiom than that of other
leading Greek poets of his time, and that earlier translations have
failed to capture the immediate, colloquial qualities of Cavafy's voice,
Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard have rendered his most significant and
characteristic poems in a style and rhythm as natural and apt in English
as the poet's is in Greek.
Originally published in 1972.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
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