To state the obvious, Greek poetry didn’t begin and end with Homer. There is a vast and rich body of modern Greek poetry, much of which has been translated into English for wider appreciation. In this episode of Explaining Greece, we explore some of that poetry—its ties to Greek folk music, and the complexities of translation.
Joshua Barley, a translator of modern Greek literature and poetry, and a passionate enthusiast of Greek folk music, joins us to delve into these connections. Barley discussed common influences and recurring themes in 20th-century Greek poetry from ancient mythology to local folk music to the landscapes they grew up in.
One poet particularly shaped by oral tradition and folk music is Michalis Ganas. Barley recently translated A Greek Ballad: Selected Poems of Michalis Ganas and talks through the process, and how he talked through each poem with Ganas himself. “It was a great privilege to be able to sit next to Michalis for hours on end and just ask him questions about his poetry, even if he was just acting like a sort of a good reader of his own poetry” explains Barely.
Barley also highlights some of the particular challenges of translating registers and form from Greek into English—especially the difficulty of preserving rhythm and incantatory qualities that Ganas used frequently. But the appeal of much of Ganas’ poetry, and of the folk music he was so inspired by, are the universal feelings of longing, exile, and lament– feelings that sometimes need a poet to be put into words.
