San Antonio College Library

In 1967, George Seferis decided the time had finally come to publish at least a portion of his journals. As he was preparing his manuscript for the printer, however, the political climate in Greece became increasingly unpropitious for such an undertaking. Soon he did not feel free to publish in his own country, and in those ominous days there were even some fears for the safety of his unpublished manuscripts. Shortly before his death on September...

"In The First Poets, Schmidt rescues the lives of classical Greek poets from their relative obscurity. Here is Orpheus, the first of the first poets, healer, mystic, and magical fixer; and Homer, about whom almost nothing is known for certain except the magnificence of his two great epic poems. Here are Linos and Arion, who survive only in legend; and Amphion, who survives through the tales we ascribe to him. Here are Sappho, the greatest Greek woman...

Deals in turn with the chief figures of Greek lyric poetry from the seventh to the sixth centuries, with a final chapter on Attic drinking-songs. The author has taken account of recent discoveries and discussions and attempts to give as full an account as possible of each poet. He relates them to their historical background, quotes and translates the important texts, and analyzes their special characteristics. The book is intended primarily for scholars...

"For two and a half thousand years, poets and readers have been moved and inspired by the writing of Sappho, and the myths that surround her. Born around 630 B.C. on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sappho is now regarded as the greatest lyrical poet of ancient Greece, ironic and passionate, capturing the troubled depths of love, the beauty of nature, the ceremony of ritual and the power of spiritual longing. Her work survives only in fragments, yet her...