Book picks similar to
Pindar's Victory Songs by Pindar
poetry
literature-ancient-greek
mythology-and-folklore
read-in-college
On the Good Life
Marcus Tullius Cicero
discussions at Tusculum (V)- 2. on duties (Ii) --3. Laelius: On Friendship --4. on the orator (I) --5. the dream of Scipio--Appendices: --1. the philosophical works of Cicero --2. the rhetorical works of Cicero --3. principal Dates --4. some books about Cicero.
Jason and the Golden Fleece (The Argonautica)
Apollonius of Rhodes
The only surviving Greek epic to bridge the gap between Homer and late antiquity, this epic poem is the crowning literary achievement of the Ptolemaic court at Alexandria, written by Appolonius of Rhodes in the third century BC. Appollonius explores many of the fundamental aspects of life in a highly original way: love, deceit, heroism, human ignorance of the divine, and the limits of science, and offers a gripping and sometimes disturbing tale in the process. This major new prose translation combines readability with accuracy and an attention to detail that will appeal to general readers and classicists alike.
Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again
Roger Housden - 2007
Great poetry is a catalyst for change: a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of life- and yes, over and over, again and again, with each new reading, and each new phase of our journey.That’s why poetry is dangerous. It gives voice to our unspoken dreams; it is a mirror to our own deepest joys, desires, and sorrows. It can tip us over into a new life, into a new way of seeing and being, that a moment ago we might even have had no words for.In this new volume of his Ten Poems series, Roger Housden takes ten great poems and in personal, intimate essays shows how they led him, and can also lead us, into a more deeply lived and examined life. Housden says, “Every one of the poems in this book has struck me a blow, a direct hit, each of them, into the heart of hearts. Every one of them, in its own way, has opened a door for me to go deeper into my own experience, my own longings, my own sorrows and joys, and into the silence that surrounds all of this, all of us, always.”
Half Pleasure Half Pain
Mohamed Ghazi - 2016
This book is about the girls whose lives were ruined by me. I want to write about my story, for it’s the only way to be immortal. I want you to feel the pleasure of falling in love. The lust, the passion, the desire, and the craving that turns into an unhealthy addiction. And I want you also to feel the pain of losing someone, the ache, the agony, the bitterness, and the grief that cripples your soul forever. This is for everyone. The forgotten souls buried under the melancholy of the past. Yes, I will show you how much you hurt me, I will write. This is what my heart holds for you; half pleasure, half pain.
Our Songs, Our Places, Without You
Trevor Capiro - 2018
each poem is incredibly impactful and beautifully written. stories of love, heartbreak, suffering, and healing come alive on the page in an incredible way. let this book of poetry touch your soul and help you feel free. join trevor capiro on this journey towards healing.
Egil's Saga
Egill Skallagrímsson
The saga recounts Egil's progression from youthful savagery to mature wisdom as he struggles to avenge his father's exile from Norway, defend his honour against the Norwegian King Erik Bloodaxe, and fight for the English King Athelstan in his battles against Scotland. Exploring issues as diverse as the question of loyalty, the power of poetry, and the relationship between two brothers who love the same woman, Egil's Saga is a fascinating depiction of a deeply human character.
The Book of Imaginary Beings
Jorge Luis Borges - 1957
G. Wells' The Time Machine. A lavish feast of exotica brought vividly to life with art commissioned specifically for this volume, The Book of Imaginary Beings will delight readers of classic fantasy as well as Borges' many admirers.
The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours
Gregory Nagy - 2013
Despite their mortality, heroes, like the gods, were objects of cult worship. Nagy examines this distinctively religious notion of the hero in its many dimensions, in texts spanning the eighth to fourth centuries bce: the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; songs of Sappho and Pindar; and dialogues of Plato. All works are presented in English translation, with attention to the subtleties of the original Greek, and are often further illuminated by illustrations taken from Athenian vase paintings.The fifth-century bce historian Herodotus said that to read Homer is to be a civilized person. In twenty-four installments, based on the Harvard University course Nagy has taught and refined since the late 1970s, The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours offers an exploration of civilization s roots in the Homeric epics and other Classical literature, a lineage that continues to challenge and inspire us today.
The Complete Works of Lao Tzu: Tao Teh Ching & Hua Hu Ching
Lao Tzu - 1979
'The Complete Works of Lao Tzu' by Hua-Ching Ni is a remarkable elucidation of the famed 'Tao Teh Ching', the core of Taoist philosophy and a bridge to the subtle truth as well as a practical guideline for natural and harmonious living. Poetic and beautifully realized, this volumn contains one of the only written translations of the 'Hua Hu Ching.'
The Prose Edda
Snorri Sturluson
Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realisation that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan era have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.This new translation by Jesse Byock captures the strength and subtlety of the original, while his introduction sets the tales fully in the context of Norse mythology. This edition also includes detailed notes and appendices.
Twenty Poems of Georg Trakl
Georg Trakl - 1961
With introductions by the translators." "Trakl is a supreme example of patience and bravery, and the worlds which these virtues enabled him to explore, and whose inhabitants he so faithfully describes, are places of great fullness and depth. His poems are not objects to be used and then cast aside, but entrances into places where deep, silent labors go on."
Cranial Guitar: Selected Poems
Bob Kaufman - 1995
African American Studies. CRANIAL GUITAR collects poems that first appeared in The Ancient Rain and Crowded with Loneliness, and includes the entire text of the long-out-of-print Golden Sardine, in the only major collection available of the late poet Bob Kaufman. Kaufman was active (except during a decade long self-imposed silence) in the poetry scenes of San Francisco and New York from the 1950s to the 1980s, and has attained cult status for his place at the forefront of the Beat movement. "Kaufman is also known as one of America's true surrealist poets, a premier jazz poet, and a major poet of the black consciousness movement. So much did he embody a French tradition of the poet as outsider, madman, and outcast, that in France, Kaufman was called the Black Rimbaud."--from the introduction by David Henderson.
The Saga of the Volsungs
Anonymous
At its heart are the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer who acquires magical knowledge from one of Odin's Valkyries. Yet it is also set in a very human world, incorporating strands from the oral narratives of the fourth and fifth centuries, when Attila the Hun and other warriors fought on the northern frontiers of the Roman Empire. One of the great books of world literature, the saga is an unforgettable tale of princely jealousy, unrequited love, greed and vengeance. With its cursed treasure of the Rhine, sword reforged and magic ring of power, it was a major influence for writers including William Morris and J. R. R. Tolkien and for Wagner's Ring cycle.
Trapped Under his Highland Spell: A Scottish Medieval Historical Romance (Tales Of Highland Might Book 4)
Ava McArthur - 2021
She didn’t care much for the things they did, she kept her hair short and always believed she’d never leave her home. But her life will radically change when her brother, the Laird, agrees to marry her to an old warring clan, the Calbraiths, to ensure long-lasting peace.Moira’s plans of spinsterhood and living a simple life with her niece and nephew are squashed and she unhappily agrees to the marriage plans for the good of her people. Moira does not know what to expect of her new husband. Very quickly she realizes that Laird Niall Calbraith is a strong, handsome man built like an ox and he’s now married to her!Not knowing how to properly stand next to him, she can hardly imagine how spending the nights with him will feel. Everyone expects her to be happy, but Moira believes that something evil is lurking in the shadows.When a mysterious illness takes hold of the castle, Moira is certain that she’s right. But while she is trying to uncover the secret that brings sorrow and death to her new clan, supposition turns against her and she feels disillusioned by her husband who does not seem to trust her at all.Moira is determined to find out more, even if she knows that the outcome of this mystery will affect not only the future of her new clan but also the fate of her marriage. And a failure might even cost her her very life…
Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer
Diane Wolkstein - 1983
Illustrated with visual artifacts of the period. With the long-awaited publication of this book, we have for the first time in any modern literary form one of the most vital and important of ancient myths: that of Inanna, the world's first goddess of recorded history and the beloved deity of the ancient Sumerians.The stories and hymns of Inanna (known to the Semites as Ishtar) are inscribed on clay tablets which date back to 2,000 B.C. Over the past forty years, these cuneiform tablets have gradually been restored and deciphered by a small group of international scholars. In this groundbreaking book, Samuel Noah Kramer, the preeminent living expert on Sumer, and Diane Wolkstein, a gifted storyteller and folklorist, have retranslated, ordered, and combined the fragmented pieces of the Cycle of Inanna into a unified whole that presents for the first time an authentic portrait of the goddess from her adolescence to her completed womanhood and godship. We see Inanna in all her aspects: as girl, lover, wife, seeker, decision maker, ruler; we witness the Queen of Heaven and Earth as the voluptuous center and source of all fertile power and the unequaled goddess of love.Illustrated throughout with cylinder seals and other artifacts of the period, the beautifully rendered images guide the reader through Inanna's realm on a journey parallel to the one evoked by the text. And the carefully wrought commentaries providing an historical overview, textual interpretations, and aannotations on the art at once explicate and amplify the power, wonder, and mystery embedded in these ancient tales.Inanna--the world's first love story, two thousand years older than the Bible--is tender, erotic, frightening, and compassionate. It is a compelling myth that is timely in its rediscovery."A great masterpiece of universal literature."--Mircea Eliade