a few years ago but I didn't finish it. I'm going to read it again. Along with the reading list I posted I have another one to read along side: Joseph Campbell, The Trivium, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, A History of Reading, etc., and that Kinzie is on the list. I'm planning to get through it before I get to more of those great poets, most of them are further down on my list so I have a bit of time to learn how to assess poetry. Perhaps though poetry is like opera, more fun when you don't know what's going on and you can access your emotional reaction more. In any case, Richmond Lattimore has set the book up in sections, the poet's name as the heading with a few paragraphs about the poet and then a page or two of his selections. Almost every poem and epitaph are fragments and often there is very little known about the author. Here are my favorites.
Alcman of Sparta
No longer, maiden voices sweet-calling, sounds of allurement,
can my limbs bear me up; oh I wish, I wish I could be a seabird
who with halcyons skims the surf-flowers of the sea water
with careless heart, a sea-blue-colored and sacred waterfowl.
Stesichorus of Himera
Palinode to Helen
That story is not true.
You never sailed in the benched ships.
You never went to the city of Troy.
Ibycus of Rhegium
In spring time the Kydonian
quinces, watered by running streams,
there where the maiden nymphs have
their secret garden, and grapes that grow
round in shade of the tendriled vine,
ripen.
Pindar of Thebes
Athens
O shining and wreathed in violets, city of singing,
stanchion of Hellas, glorious Athens
citadel of divinity.
War is sweet to those who have not tried it. The experienced
man in frightened at the heart to see it advancing.
Do not against all comers let break the word that is not needed.
There are times when the way of silence is best; the word in its power
can be the spur to battle.
Mistress of high achievement, O lady Truth,
do not let my understanding stumble
across some jagged falsehood.
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