Greek Poems

POEMS FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY, translated by Dudley Fitts, New Directions, 141 pages, Hardcover--$3.00, Paper--$1.00

The 141 poems included in this small book are almost entirely reissues of work published in 1938. They represent examples of middle ground in Greek lyric poetry.

Fitts explains in his Note to the current edition, "My theories of translation have changed so radically that any attempt to recast the work of fifteen or twenty years ago could end only in confusion and the stultification of whatever force the poems may once have had."

As poetry, Fitts' work is momentous progress over the literal rendering of W.R. Paton in the Loeb Classical Library; he has allowed himself what he terms "free paraphrase" and the result is sometimes startingly beautiful and strong.

But too frequently the poems reveal a translator who has succumbed to the haste which is so inviting when one is dealing with the Greek lyrics. Their compactness and delicate balance--particularly the epigrams--are deceptive and lead the over-anxious into insipid work. Too few of these selections attain the strength of the few which are excellent.