Poetry Reading David Ferry

DAVID FERRY READS FROM HIS TRANSLATION OF THE _Aeneid. _There will be a book signing and reception after the reading “I sing of arms and the man . . . ”  So begins the _Aeneid_, greatest of Western epic poems. Virgil’s story of the journey of Aeneas has been a part of our cultural heritage for so many centuries that it’s all too easy to lose sight of the poem itself—of its brilliantly cinematic depiction of the sack of Troy; the monstrous hunger of the harpies; the intensity of Dido’s love for the hero, and the blackness of her despair; and the violence that Aeneas and his men must endure before they can settle in Italy and build the civilization whose roots we still claim as our own. This new translation brings Virgil’s masterpiece newly to life for English-language readers. It’s the first in centuries crafted by a translator who is first and foremost a poet, and it is a glorious thing. DAVID FERRY HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN AS PERHAPS OUR GREATEST CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATOR OF LATIN POETRY, his translations of Virgil’s _Eclogues_ and _Georgics_ having established themselves as much-admired standards. He brings to the _Aeneid_ the same genius, rendering Virgil’s formal metrical lines into an English that is familiar and alive. Yet in doing so, he surrenders none of the feel of the ancient world that resonates throughout the poem, and gives it the power that has drawn readers to it for centuries. In FERRY’s hands, the _Aeneid_ becomes once more a lively, dramatic poem of daring and adventure, of love and loss, of devotion and death. Never before have Virgil’s twin gifts of poetic language and urgent, compelling storytelling been presented so powerfully for English-language readers. FERRY’s _Aeneid_ will be a landmark, a gift to longtime lovers of Virgil, and the perfect entry point for new readers.