Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt

Name: Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt
Author: Barbara Hughes Fowler
ISBN: 9780807844687

Translated by Barbara Hughes Fowler

Published by The University of North Carolina Press

Publication date: September 30, 1994

ISBN 9780807844687 | 102 Pages, 6.00 × 9.00 in, 10 illus.

102 Pages, 6.00 × 9.00 in, 10 illus.

Paperback $40.95

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Praise

Ancient Egypt is often thought of as a gloomy society obsessed with death. But a collection of papyri, dating to the latter half of the New Kingdom (ca. 1305-1080 B.C.), presents us with delicate love lyrics that dispel any such illusion. These vibrant love poems, purported to be by boys and girls perhaps as young as thirteen or fourteen years of age, are remarkable for their innocent sensuousness. Combining her notable skills as a translator and a poet, Barbara Fowler provides the first accurate translation of these love lyrics into modern English-language poetry. Her renderings are both elegant and correct. They preserve the charm of a long-lost civilization, while making it possible for readers to appreciate one aspect of that culture in our time and through our language.

Originally published in 1994.

A UNC Press Enduring Edition — UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Barbara Hughes Fowler, a well-known classicist, translator, and poet, is author of The Seeds Inside a Green Pepper, a volume of original poems, Hellenistic Poetry and Archaic Greek Poetry, both works of translation, and The Hellenistic Aesthetic, a critical work. She is John Bascom Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“There is a charming, sweet sensuousness about these poems translated from papyri of the New Kingdom (1305–1080 B.C.). Translator Fowler has, in general, made these ancient works accessible without burdening them with notes. . . . The innocent sexuality of these poems is a sheer delight.” — Booklist

“This collection of little-known love poems, along with its lucid introduction, illuminates for the general reader the private lives and personal literature of the ancient Egyptians. The translations are typical of Barbara Fowler’s work: vivid diction, melodic phrasing, and an elegant simplicity of tone.” — Randall Colaizzi, Wellesley College

“Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt will make a very important collection of Egyptian poetry accessible to the public. In her renderings of these poems, Professor Fowler has sensibly chosen the middle road, the result being neither too free nor a 'trot' in unidiomatic English. In the popular mind the ancient Egyptians are a gloomy and morbid people. Such poetry as that in The Love Lyrics of Ancient Egypt gives the lie to that conception.” — Richard Jasnow, The Oriental Institute