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by: Sextus Propertius
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780192835734
ISBN: 0192835734
Label: Oxford Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Oxford Paperbacks
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: November 04, 1999
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Sales Rank: 309262
Studio: Oxford Paperbacks
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Product Description:
Of all the great classical love poets, Propertius (c. 50-10 BC) is surely one of those with most immediate appeal for readers today. His helpless infatuation for the sinister figure of his mistress Cynthia forms the main subject of his poetry and is analysed with a tormented but witty grandeur in all its changing moods, from ecstasy to suicidal despair.
Customer Reviews
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Rating:  - The Poems of Propertius
Sextus Propertius was born in a northern Italian family in 60 BC. In his early childhood he would have heard reports of Caesar's conquest of northern Gaul. In his teen years he would have watched the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, and by the time of his death c. 10 BC, he had seen Octavianus found the Roman Empire and declare himself Augustus.
Propertius himself, for all the eventful happenings of his fifty year life,was a man of little importance. He held no important goverment ... Read More
Rating:  - Overly dry translation
Shepherd's translations suffer from persistent flatness; there is little poetry to be found in them. While footnotes explaining obscure mythological references serve a purpose, you know the translator is having trouble when footnotes are also used to explain substantive meanings within the translations. The overall feeling one gets is that Shepherd managed to translate the poems from Latin into English, but failed to take the further step of rendering them back into poetry.
Rating: - Fine translation by Guy Lee sticks close to Latin original
I found this a fine and useful translation to read along side the Latin text of Propertius in the Loeb Classical Library (where the facing translation has as its prime aim to help the reader understand the latin; it gets a little dry). Unfortunately, this Oxford World Classics edition does not contain a facing Latin text, like the Oxford World's Classics edition of Catullus (also translated by Guy Lee). Nonetheless, Lee's introduction has to be one of the most interesting and absorbing introductions ... Read More
Rating: - a modern poet in ancient times
After CatullusÕ early experiments, Gallus was the first to borrow directly from the Alexandrians whose poets, more than a century earlier, had introduced a new sensibility and the conflict between urbanity and the urban concept of nature - preferably in a bucolic setting, as in Theocritus idylls. An innovation, to which even a Hebrew poet - perhaps a rabbiÕs daughter - made a contribution with the ÒSong of Solomon,Ó which is not just ostentatious poetry, but a bit of a rabbinic crossword puzzle: how ... Read More
Rating:  - Roman love elegies
Propertius' political poetry is entirely superfluous; he is at his best when writing odes to Cynthia. Of course, like all love-elegists, he is highly indebted to Catullus, but still he manages to have a charm and lyricism all his own.
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