Constantine P. Cavafy. Poems

By Manolis

Translations, like everything else, wear out over time, as language, and those who read or use it, change. With a poet like Cavafy, who was so precisely tuned to the idiom of his peers, it is even more important to update the English versions of his poems frequently, so that they have the same immediate resonance with the times as the originals had with their time. This is, of course, an impossible task. There is no single word, much less any phrase, that has exactly the same weight and hierarchy of primary and secondary meanings in another language. Add to that the differences in sound patterns and rhythmic signatures or emphases, and it becomes clear that the best one can do is to approximate, sometimes by straying from the awkwardness of literal, dictionary definitions, the poetic effects of the original poems. Robert Lowell called his attempts "Imitations" and I think that the ambition and humility of that designation makes it a more or less accurate label for what is presented here, English versions of a celebrated body of work that could never have been written in English, much less in Canadian English with our vastly different history and culture, different even from the English that evolved in Britain over many centuries. Certainly there are problematics that have remained unresolved, and occasional passages of unavoidable clumsiness, but we have tried to approximate both Cavafy's intimate, precise sense of idiomatic speech, and his consummate ear for traditional forms revitalized by the Demotic Greek of Alexandria. If we haven't fully succeeded, our hope is that something of the poet's distinctive genius and skill remains, and remains accessible to our readers, if only as a trace element here and there, or in the cumulative force of the book as a whole.

– George Amabile, Editor

• Language: English
• Publisher: Libros Libertad Publishing
• Release date: Dec 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465910851

Manolis

Manolis (Emmanuel Aligizakis) is a Cretan-Canadian poet and author. He’s the most prolific writer-poet of the Greek diaspora. At the age of eleven he transcribed the nearly 500 year old romantic poem Erotokritos, now released in a limited edition of 100 numbered copies and made available for collectors of such rare books at 5,000 dollars Canadian: the most expensive book of its kind to this day. He was recently appointed an honorary instructor and fellow of the International Arts Academy, and awarded a Master’s for the Arts in Literature. He is recognized for his ability to convey images and thoughts in a rich and evocative way that tugs at something deep within the reader. Born in the village of Kolibari on the island of Crete in 1947, he moved with his family at a young age to Thessaloniki and then to Athens, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences from the Panteion University of Athens. After graduation, he served in the armed forces for two years and emigrated to Vancouver in 1973, where he worked as an iron worker, train labourer, taxi driver, and stock broker, and studied English Literature at Simon Fraser University. He has written three novels and numerous collections of poetry, which are steadily being released as published works. His articles, poems and short stories in both Greek and English have appeared in various magazines and newspapers in Canada, United States, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Australia, Jordan, Serbia and Greece. His poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, Swedish, German, Hungarian, Ukrainian, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Serbian, Russian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, languages and has been published in book form or in magazines in various countries. He now lives in White Rock, where he spends his time writing, gardening, traveling, and heading Libros Libertad, an unorthodox and independent publishing company which he founded in 2006 with the mission of publishing literary books. His translation book “George Seferis-Collected Poems” was shortlisted for the Greek National Literary Awards the highest literary recognition of Greece. In September 2017 he was awarded the First Poetry Prize of the Mihai Eminescu International Poetry Festival, in Craiova, Romania.

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Constantine P. Cavafy. Poems

Translated from the Greek, and Introduced by Manolis

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Published by: Manolis on Smashwords

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

VOICES

DESIRES

CANDLES

AN OLD MAN

PRAYER

THE SOULS OF OLD MEN

THE FIRST STEP

INTERRUPTION

THERMOPYLAE

CHE FECE….IL GRAN RIFIUTO

THE WINDOWS

WALLS

WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS

BETRAYAL

THE FUNERAL OF SARPEDON

THE HORSES OF ACHILLES

THE CITY

THE SATRAPY

WISE MEN SENSE THE FORTHCOMING

THE IDES OF MARCH

FINALITIES

THE GOD FORSAKES ANTONY

THEODOTOS

MONOTONY

ITHAKA

AS MUCH AS YOU CAN

TROJANS

KING DEMETRIOS

GLORY OF THE PTOLEMIES

DIONYSUS’ PROCESSION

THE BATTLE OF MAGNESIA

THE DISPLEASURE OF THE SELEUCID

OROPHERNIS

ALEXANDRIAN KINGS

PHILELLENE

FOOTSTEPS

HEROD OF ATTICA

SCULPTOR OF TYANA

THE TOMB OF SCRIBER LYCIAS

THE TOMB OF EVRION

THIS MAN IS THE MAN

DANGEROUS THINGS

MANUEL KOMNINOS

IN THE CHURCH

VERY SELDOM

FOR THE SHOP

PAINTED

MORNING SEA

IONIAN

AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAFE

ONE NIGHT

COME BACK

FAR AWAY

HE SWEARS

I WENT

CHANDELIER

SINCE NINE O’CLOCK

MEANING

BEFORE THE STATUE OF ENDYMION

ENVOYS FROM ALEXANDRIA

ARISTOVOULOS

CEASARION

NERO’S DEADLINE

IN HARBOR

ONE OF THEIR GODS

THE TOMB OF LANIS

TOMB OF IASIS

IN A CITY OF OSROINE

TOMB OF IGNATIOS

IN THE MONTH OF ATHYR

FOR AMMONIS WHO DIED 29 YEARS OLD, IN 610

AIMILIANOS MONAI ALEXANDRIAN 628-655 A.D.

WHEN THEY GET AROUSED

SENSUAL DELIGHT

THIS MUCH I GAZED

IN THE STREET

THE WINDOW OF THE TOBACCO SHOP

PASSAGE

AT DUSK

GRAY

BELOW THE HOUSE

THE NEXT TABLE

REMEMBER, BODY…

DAYS OF 1903

THE AFTERNOON SUN

TO STAY

OF THE HEBREWS (50 A.D.)

IMENOS

ON THE SHIP

OF DEMETRIOS SOTIR (162—150 B.C.)

IF AND SINCE HE DIED

YOUNG MEN OF SIDON (400 A.D.)

SO THEY WILL COME

DAREIOS

ANNA KOMNINI

A BYZANTINE NOBLE, IN EXILE, WRITING VERSES

THEIR BEGINNING

THE FAVOR OF ALEXANDER VALAS

MELANCHOLY OF JASON KLEANDROS

POET IN KOMMAGINI, 595 A.D.

DIMARATOS

I BROUGHT TO ART

FROM THE SCHOOL OF THE FAMOUS PHILOSOPHER

CRAFTSMAN OF WINE BOWLS

THOSE WHO FOUGHT FOR THE ACHEAN LEAGUE

TO ANTIOCHOS EPIFANIS

IN AN OLD BOOK

IN DESPAIR

JULIAN SEEING NEGLIGENCE

EPITAPH OF ANTIOCHOS, KING OF KOMMAGINI

THEATER OF SIDON (400 A.D.)

JULIAN IN NIKOMEDIA

BEFORE TIME CHANGES THEM

HE CAME TO READ

IN ALEXANDRIA, 31 B.C.

JOHN KANTAKOUZINOS TRIUMPHS

TEMETHOS OF ANTIOCH 400 A.D.

OF COLORED GLASS

THE 25th YEAR OF HIS LIFE

ON AN ITALIAN SHORE

IN THE DULL VILLAGE

APOLLONIOS OF TYANA IN RHODES

THE ILLNESS OF KLEITOS

IN A SMALL TOWN IN ASIA MINOR

PRIEST OF SERAPEION

IN THE POTHOUSES

A BIG PROCESSION OF PRIESTS AND COMMON PEOPLE

SOPHIST LEAVING SYRIA

JULIAN AND THE ANTIOCHIANS

ANNA DALASSINI

DAYS OF 1896

TWO YOUNG MEN TWENTY THREE TO TWENTY FOUR YEARS OLD

GREEK SINCE THE OLD DAYS

DAYS OF 1901

YOU DIDN’T KNOW

A YOUNG MAN, ARTIST OF THE WORD— IN HIS TWENTY-FOURTH YEAR

IN SPARTA

PORTRAIT OF A TWENTY—THREE—YEAR OLD MAN PAINTED BY HIS AMATEUR FRIEND OF THE SAME AGE

IN A LARGE GREEK COLONY, 200 B.C.

LEADER FROM WESTERN LYBIA

KIMON, SON OF LEARCHOS, 22 YEARS OLD, STUDENT OF GREEK (IN KYRINI)

ON THE MARCH TO SINOPI

DAYS OF 1909, `10, AND `11

MYRIS: ALEXANDRIA, 340 A.D.

ALEXANDER IANNAIOS AND ALEXANDRA

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND WHITE AS WAS SUITABLE

COME, OH KING OF THE LACEDAIMONIANS

IN THE SAME SPACE

THE MIRROR BY THE ENTRANCE

HE ASKED ABOUT THE QUALITY

THEY SHOULD HAVE CARED

ACCORDING TO THE RECIPES OF ANCIENT GRECO—SYRIAN MAGICIANS

IN 200 B.C.

DAYS OF 1908

IN THE SUBURBS OF ANTIOCH

Notes

Bibliography

Biographical Note for Constantine P. Cavafy

Bio of the translator

FOREWORD

The literary magazine Quill and Quire, issue of April 2008, states: The moment you translate something as a Canadian, because you are interpreting it into English as spoken in Canada, and it is informed by the imagery and culture of the target language, it becomes a work of Canadian literature. This is such a book written by one of the most celebrated Greek poets, C.P.Cavafy, translated by a Greek-Canadian writer Manolis and edited by George Amabile.

Although this translation is based almost entirely on the thirteenth edition of Kavafis— Collected Poems published by Ikaros, Athens, 1980, and although that edition is called Collected Poems (the Greek word used is «άπαντα»--‘apanda’ which means collected), we don’t call ours Collected Poems because there are a lot of other poems written by Cavafy between 1882—1932, some of which we found included only in the expanded edition published by Rae Dalven of 1976. Ikaros also published the Unpublished Poems of C.P. Cavafy in Athens in 1977.

We followed the format and sequence of poems in the Ikaros editionexcept for the shifting of sixteen poems written between 1896-1905 which we placed at the beginning of this translation unlike the edition by Ikaros where these poems were placed at the end of their volume.

Reference is made to the literary magazine of his era, New Protoporoi which devoted an article to Cavafy’s poetry; also to commentaries written by S. Tsirkas and Gr. Xenopoulos who analyzed and discussed Cavafy’s works from their point of view; reference is also made to the newspapers Vima, Nea and Kathimerini where N. Vagenas, H. Houzouri and S. Moskovou contributed articles about the poet. Last but not least reference is made to the commentary and notes by George Savidis in the thirteenth Ikaros edition the format of which we have followed in this translation.

The historical names were transliterated in no particular way; the most well known names internationally were left with their Latin transliterations as in: Constantinople instead of the Greek Konstantinoupolis; all the other lesser known names are presented sometimes in their Latin appearance and at other times in their Greek format based on what seemed visually appropriate.

INTRODUCTION

Constantine P. Cavafy, along with a few other twentieth century Greek poets such as George Seferis, Odysseus Elytis, Yiannis Ritsos, Kostis Palamas and Andreas Kalvos, established the revival of Greek poetry both in Greece and abroad. They emerged as the new era of contemporary Greek poets at a time when the use of the Greek language was swept by the conflict between the old, καθαρεύουσα—katharevoussa traditional form of language and the more common δημοτική—demotiki, plebian or demotic as it was called.

Cavafy used both the traditional and the demotic modes although mostly the latter; he spent most of his life in Alexandria under the influence of the almighty Greek Orthodox Church and the day before his death he took communion as if to declare that he was ready; as if he was prepared for his transformation, from the modern poet, Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis of Greece to the Cavafy of the World. It is said that in the last minutes of his life he took pencil and paper and drew a big circle with a single dot in the middle.

It had only been twenty years since his death when one of the most famous bookstores in London advertised that: We carry the best ever books: from Chaucer to Cavafy. In 1919 Cavafy was introduced to the English reading public by E.M. Forster who helped establish his reputation in the Western World.

His poems combine the precision of a master craftsman with the sensitivity of Sappho as they are concise, yet intimate when their subject iserotic love, mostly between men. Real characters as well as imaginary, historical events as well as fictional are his inspiration; the questionable future, the sensual pleasures, the wandering morality of the many, the psychology of the individual and that of the masses, homosexuality, certain atavistic beliefs and an existential nostalgia are some of his themes. Cavafy’s conscience projected his crystal clear belief in the immortal written word, which he bequeathed unto the four corners of the world.

On the 100th anniversary of his birthday and thirty years after his death, his complete works were published by Ikaros in 1963. This edition was prepared up to a point, we could say, by the poet himself who had kept all his poems in a concise and exact order; each poem on a page (which was pinned in exact chronological order on top of the proceeding page); his older poems were turned into booklet form which traditionally consisted of 16 pages although in this case the length is questionable. The sequence of the poems in these booklets was not chronological but thematic and depended on how he

Reviews for Constantine P. Cavafy. Poems

[Kelvin Gregory · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The introduction to this volume of translations of Cavafy is strange and unbalanced in its obsessive insistence that Cavafy was not a practicing homosexual. The reasons given for this assertion are that no pictures exist showing him in the act, none of his close friends recount stories of his erotic encounters, and Cavafy took holy communion in the Greek Orthodox Church the day before he died. The translator explains the existence of Cavafy’s erotic poems, exclusively centered as they are on Cavafy the poet’s casual sexual liaisons with young men in their twenties, as arising from the poet’s repressed desires which during the lonely years of his later adulthood were relieved through masturbation. But by the same reasoning that the translator advances to reject the notion that Cavafy was a practicing homosexual, one can reject the notion that he was a chronic masturbator: there are no corroborating photographs or friends’ testimonials. One can imagine a ludicrous scenario in which Cavafy masturbates at his window while secretly ogling the angelic young men visiting the brothel below the apartment where he lived when a friend unexpectedly barges into his room. The introduction is unintentionally hilarious and deserves 5 stars for sheer risibility.