Hesiod’s Calendar
- Carcanet / OxfordPoets Scheduled for publication: August 2010




  The ancient Greek poet Hesiod is best known for two poems, the Theogony and the Works and Days, both in the metre of the Odyssey. The Theogony gives an important account of the creation of the universe and the war between the Titans and Olympians, while the Works and Days offers advice on everything from how to cut timber for a plough to behaviour best avoided at a holy banquet. Hesiod’s Calendar, in two engaging sonnet sequences, converts the heart of the Theogony and the whole of the Works and Days into poetry that approximates to Hesiod's original, while rendering him in a robustly colloquial voice, with touches of wit and originality throughout. One poem is notable for its raw mythic power, the other for its close observations of nature and society. Robert Saxton's sonnets attempt to capture both with vivid immediacy.


  In the Works and Days Hesiod emerges as the first fully rounded personality in Western literature – pragmatic, god-fearing, earnest, opinionated, hard-working, thrifty, plain-speaking, burdened by the effort of making a living and by the iniquities of the ungodly. Against a plain conversational background the lyric charm of Hesiod's vignettes of rural life, especially his account of deepest winter, stand out in brilliant relief.



Contents:

Foreword

Introduction

Theogony: 15 sonnets

Works and Days: 65 sonnets

Notes

Sample Prose Translations for comparison




Last modified 28 December 2009­