Setting a poem to music must be like another way of translating the poem. This is the idea that stayed with Carol wood throughout her work on this collection, based on Stanton Hager’s beautiful translation of Li Bai’s poem. Two of the poems, “Proud Songsters” and “When at Last I Join” are stunning original works in English. The Sappho poems are not true translations of the works of that brilliant and enigmatic Greek poet, but rather three poems by Bliss Carman written in the style and spirit of Sappho. “Hunters in the House” is best known by the title “Pangur Ban.” Wood’s husband, the poet John Wood, made this translation so the poem could be set to music in a traditional Irish idiom.
Titles: Sappho I, Sappho II, Sappho III, Proud Songsters, Endless Longing, The Mirabeau Bridge, Hunters in the House, When at Last I Join.
Sappho (Psappha in her native Aeolic) was a poetess from the isle of Lesbos who was born about 620 BCE. From an aristocratic family, her birthplace was likely the main city, Mytilene, where she lived for some time.
