Horace, The Odes: New Translations by Contemporary Poets

Description

They have inspired poets and challenged translators through the centuries. The odes of Horace are the cornerstone of lyric poetry in the Western world. Their subtlety of tone and brilliance of technique have often proved elusive, especially when - as has usually been the case - a single translator ventures to maneuver through Horace's infinite variety. Now for the first time, leading poets from America, England, and Ireland have collaborated to bring all 103 odes into English in a series of new translations that both dazzle as poems and illuminate the imagination of one of literary history's towering figures.

J. D. McClatchy, Professor of English at Yale University, is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently "Hazmat". The author of two volumes of literary essays and several opera libretti as well, he has edited numerous books, including "The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry". McClatchy has been Editor of "The Yale Review" since 1991.

"McClatchy's fellow poets have succeeded where many a scholar has failed... The resulting collection is ... a wonderfully varied tribute to the mercurial poet it honors."--Amanda Kolson Hurley, Times Literary Supplement "Many of the 35 poets here are well established--Charles Simic, Robert Bly, Anthony Hecht; others are known as distinguished translators; and the match with Horace tends to put them on top form... But even the most brilliant ideas can flop in execution. This one soars. It brings us as close to the real Horace as we can come."--Tom Payne, The Daily Telegraph "This book will help initiate--and re-initiate--modern readers to some of the best lyric poetry ever produced... [T]he poems are rendered not by one hand, but by the best contemporary poets... J. D. McClatchy has doled out his assignments wisely to the finest poets writing in English in England, America, and Ireland, and they've done their work well."--Tracy Lee Simmons, The Weekly Standard