{"product_id":"pure-pagan","title":"Pure Pagan: Seven Centuries of Greek Poems and Fragments","description":"\u003cp\u003e*“For there is indeed something we can call the spirit of ancient Greece–a carefully tuned voice that speaks out of the grave with astonishing clarity and grace , a distinctive voice that, taken as a whole, is like no other voice that has ever sung on this earth.”\u003cbr\u003e\r\n–*BURTON RAFFEL, from his Preface\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFor centuries, the poetry of Homer, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Sappho, and Archilochus has served as one of our primary means of connecting with the wholly vanished world of ancient Greece. But the works of numerous other great and prolific poets–Alkaios, Meleager, and Simonides, to name a few–are rarely translated into English , and are largely unknown to modern readers. In \u003cem\u003ePure Pagan\u003c\/em\u003e, award-winning translator Burton Raffel brings these and many other wise and witty ancient Greek writers to an English-speaking audience for the first time, in full poetic flower. Their humorous and philosophical ruminations create a vivid portrait of everyday life in ancient Greece –and they are phenomenally lovely as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, sharp bursts of song, these two-thousand-year-old poems speak about the timeless matters of everyday life:\u003cbr\u003e\r\nWine (\u003cem\u003eWine is the medicine\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eTo call for, the best medicine\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eTo drink deep, deep\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003cbr\u003e\r\nHistory (\u003cem\u003eNot us: no\u003c\/em\u003e. \/ \u003cem\u003eIt began with our fathers,\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eI’ve heard\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMovers and shakers (\u003cem\u003eIf a man shakes loose stones\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eTo make a wall with\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eStones may fall on his head\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eInstead\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003cbr\u003e\r\nOld age (\u003cem\u003eOld age is a debt we like to be owed\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eNot one we like to collect\u003c\/em\u003e)\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFrankness (\u003cem\u003eSpeak\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eAs you please\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eAnd hear what can never\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003ePlease\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\r\nThere are also wonderful epigrams (\u003cem\u003eTake what you have while you have it: you’ll lose it soon enough\u003c\/em\u003e. \/ \u003cem\u003eA single summer turns a kid into a shaggy goat\u003c\/em\u003e) and epitaphs (\u003cem\u003eHere I lie, beneath this stone, the famous woman who untied her belt for only one man\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe entrancing beauty, humor, and piercing clarity of these poems will draw readers into the Greeks’ journeys to foreign lands, their bacchanalian parties and ferocious battles, as well as into the more intimate settings of their kitchens and bedrooms. The poetry of \u003cem\u003ePure Pagan\u003c\/em\u003e reveals the ancient Greeks’ dreams, their sense of humor, sorrows, triumphs, and their most deeply held values, fleshing out our understanding of and appreciation for this fascinating civilization and its artistic legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","brand":"None","offers":[{"title":"Kobo eBook","offer_id":46193557831857,"sku":"0db31f62-563c-4da0-802a-c464d7d56286","price":7.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0655\/8980\/5233\/files\/image_8a1dcc49-2ca7-4de3-8775-341f2f4910e8.jpg?v=1764910886","url":"https:\/\/www.indigo.ca\/products\/pure-pagan","provider":"Indigo","version":"1.0","type":"link"}