Poems For The Time Being - Why You Should Read C.P. Cavafy - Image Journal

11/7/2019 Poems for the Time Being: Why You Should Read C.P.
Cavafy - Image Journal
 MENU
Good Letters
(/)
Poems for the Time Being: Why You Should Read

(HTTPS://IMAGEJOURNAL.OR
CURRENT ISSUE C.P. Cavafy
G/ISSUE-102/?ISSUE=ISSUE-
SEARCH By Brian Volck
102)
LOGIN SUBSCRIBE
(/JOURNAL/SUBSCRIBE/)
In a conversation featured in Image 100, poets A. E. Stallings and Adrianne Kalfopoulou recount their experiences with
Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees now living in an unauthorized settlement in Athens, Greece.
(http://www.imagejournal.org) In bringing the arts to displaced families living on the margins of an ancient city, the two
found themselves drawn into the lives of those they served. That, in turn, transformed their own lives, their friendship,
and their poetry. Late in their conversation, they linger a moment over “The City,” a poem by the beloved Greek poet C.
P. Cavafy that they both find keenly relevant. With classic Cavafian irony, the poem answers a longing for a new start in a
new country with a worldly-wise admonition that one’s past failures and traumas are inescapable. “But you will find no
other lands, no other seas discover. / This city will pursue you,” is how Stallings renders Cavafy, in a translation included
in the issue. And then, in a lovely engagement of literary tradition through what T. S. Eliot calls “the present moment of
the past,” Stallings and Kalfopoulou offer their own poetic reinterpretations of “The City” in light of their refugee work.
That alone would have been sufficient cause to revisit Cavafy’s meticulously-crafted verse, but Image 100 also includes
four recent sonnets by Aliki Barnstone, whose vibrant translations of Cavafy, published in 2006, come with exhaustive
notes to navigate the poetry’s many historical and linguistic references. Taking the hint, I pulled from my bookshelf
several translations (nerd alert!), their pages dog-eared to mark my favorites, and reentered the uncanny world of an early
twentieth century poet who conjures voices from the past.
Constantine Peter Cavafy (Κωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης), was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1863 and died there on his
seventieth birthday in 1933. In a lifetime that spanned from the American Civil War to the rise of Adolf Hitler, Cavafy
lived nearly all of it in the Greek expatriate community of his birthplace. Described by E. M. Forster as “a Greek
gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe,
(https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/books/review/Longenbach-t.html)” Cavafy curated his own marginality. He
https://imagejournal.org/2019/05/27/poems-for-the-time-being-why-you-should-read-c-p-cavafy/ 1/8
11/7/2019 Poems for the Time Being: Why You Should Read C.P. Cavafy - Image Journal
held a modest job in a municipal bureaucracy, living with and caring for his mother until her death in 1899. What poetry
 MENU
he saw to publication appeared in local newspapers or in broadsheets circulated among friends. Even these he continued
to revise and tweak, cataloguing each iteration in an elaborate system of folders. Appreciation of his work came late.
Rather like Emily Dickinson and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Cavafy wrote at least a generation ahead of his time. Living
within the overlapping reach of the Ottoman and British Empires, Cavafy had reasons for keeping a low profile: he spent
(/) his nights visiting male brothels or paying for sex with young men who caught his eye. Whether by disposition or social
circumstance, he showed little interest in what we now call “a long-term relationship.” Though his later work is filled with
homoerotic imagery, Cavafy’s days and nights defined a double life.
Until the turn of the century, his poetry was unremarkable, conventionally sweet and mannered. Then, in the words of
Cavafy’s friend
CURRENT and fellow poet, George Seferis, “something extraordinary happened.” A series of family deaths, including
ISSUE
his mother and three brothers, coincided with intensive reading in ancient history, after which he subjected the entirety of
his written work to a merciless “philosophical scrutiny.” What little poetry survived and all that followed is spare, dryly-
SEARCH
rendered, devoid of metaphor, at once detached and intimate, refracting the particulars of loss through an ironic prism.
102)
LOGIN sometimes
Critics SUBSCRIBE
discount Cavafy’s stylistic minimalism as little more than “stacked prose,” overlooking how exactingly
he selects and places his words like tesserae in a mosaic, the subtle iambs and “tango rhythms” of his otherwise free lines,
and his tactical use of rhyme. Cavafy also augments his otherwise flat poetic diction by blending everyday demotic Greek
with Katharevousa, a “purified,” officially-sanctioned high dialect meant to reappropriate the literary grandeur of ancient
Greece. All of these, of course, are more readily apparent in Cavafy’s Greek originals than in English translation, yet his
poetry has attracted and influenced major English-speaking poets who read Greek, like T. S. Eliot and M. S. Merwin, as
well as many who could not, such as W. H. Auden. Indeed, Auden, who knew Cavafy only in English and French
translation, confessed, “I can think of poems which, if Cavafy were unknown to me, I should have written quite
differently or perhaps not written at all.”
Critics who prefer neat categories typically divide Cavafy’s mature work into the historical poems and the erotic ones. The
former group covers more than a millennium of Greek history, from the Hellenistic kingdoms that divided Alexander the
Great’s conquests, through the uneasy coexistence of paganism and Christianity in fourth century Rome, and on into
Byzantine era. The erotic poems recall brief, intense encounters with young, beautiful men. Daniel Mendelsohn, whose
English rendering of Cavafy’s complete works many consider – for now at least – definitive, claims this division misses an
underlying thematic unity: time. The “historical” poems evince the characteristically Greek sensibility that the past is never
really past, that Mark Antony and the Emperor Julian remain, if not alive, then still within living memory. The “erotic”
poems are dreamlike evocations of present longing and palpable loss. Time in Cavafy’s work is very near the heart of
human experience and riddled with irony: youth surrenders to age, beauty fades, good fortune turns to bad, security is an
illusion.
In “Nero’s Term,” the thirty year old emperor revels in sensual delights, confident that a Delphic warning that he “fear
the seventy-three years,” means decades ahead “given fully to days of pleasure.” Meanwhile, in Spain, an army secretly
trains under the military governor who will soon topple him, “Galba…that old man of seventy-three.” In “Since Nine
O’Clock,” the aging speaker, realizing he’s spent three and a half hours alone, reminiscing over youthful passions, lost
cityscapes, and family sorrows, concludes, “Half past twelve. How the time has passed. / Half past twelve. How the years
have passed.” (To get a sense of Cavafy’s stature in Greece, watch a Greek audience’s reaction as Daniel Mendelsohn
(
h
tt
p
:
/
/
sa
v
ef
e
 MENU r
o
m
.
n
(/)
et
/
?
u
rl
CURRENT ISSUE
=
G/ISSUE-102/?ISSUE=ISSUE- h
SEARCH
tt
102) p
LOGIN SUBSCRIBE
s
(/JOURNAL/SUBSCRIBE/) %
3
A
%
2
F
%
2
F
w
w
w
.y
o
u
t
u
b
e.
c
o
m
%
2
F
w
at
c
h
%
3
F
v
%
3
D
D
 MENU V
ar
-
8
(/) z
t
S
L
T
CURRENT ISSUE s
&
G/ISSUE-102/?ISSUE=ISSUE- u
SEARCH
t
102) m
LOGIN SUBSCRIBE
_
(/JOURNAL/SUBSCRIBE/) s
o
u
rc
e
=
u
s
e
rj
s-
c
h
r
o
m
e
&
u
t
m
_
m
e
d
i
u
m
=
e
x
te
n
si
o
n
 MENU s
&
u
t
(/) m
_
c
a
m
CURRENT ISSUE p
ai
SEARCH g
n
102)
LOGIN SUBSCRIBE =
li
n
k
_
m
o
d
if
ie
recites the original poem from memory (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Var-8ztSLTs) r) .)
Daniel Mendels…
Mendels…
History and Eros meet in “Caesarion,” in which a book’s chance mention of the son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar brings
the imagined physical beauty of young Caesarion to life in the speaker’s mind. Yet the poem goes on to remind us what
the boy could not know: that Octavian, soon to become Augustus, will command Caesarion’s death with a Greek pun,
recalling a line from the Iliad, that “too many Caesars” is a bad thing.
 MENU
If I’ve given the impression that Cavafy prefers history’s lead actors, that’s easily corrected. I’m particularly drawn to his
dramatic monologues, delivered anonymously and in characteristic Cavafian deadpan, without the personalizing flourishes
of Robert Browning’s lush soliloquies. In “Myres: Alexandria, AD 340,” for example, a pagan pays an uneasy visit to a
Christian household on the occasion of a young friend’s death. As the Christians eulogize and pray for the dead Myres,
(/) the unnamed pagan recalls how readily his friend joined in the pleasures and amusements of the world. Yet, the speaker
recalls, Myres scrupulously avoided pagan observances, distancing himself from the group when they offered libations to
Poseidon. And then, in a triumph of revelatory minimalism, the speaker remembers how one youth called the favors and
protection of Apollo on the group, while Myres murmured under his breath, “Except for me.”
CURRENT ISSUE
Why should writers and artists of faith read Cavafy, given his nocturnal habits and obscure historical fascinations? Two
reasons come readily to mind. First, Cavafy is a modern master, and anyone concerned with the intersection of art and
SEARCH
faith will delight in – and learn from – work so exquisitely done. The fruit of Cavafy’s “philosophical scrutiny” embodies
Strunk and102)White’s non-negotiable requirement for vigorous writing: “that every word tell.” That poets like Auden,
LOGIN SUBSCRIBE
Czeslaw Milosz, and Scott Cairns have turned to Cavafy for inspiration suggests there’s more than enough there to merit
careful reading.
Second, I think Cavafy – who maintained at least a nominal allegiance to Greek Orthodoxy – engages time and tradition
in ways quite consonant with a life of faith. Like Aslan in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Cavafy “call(s) all times soon.”
He communes with the dead, re-membering them in word and presence. Thoroughly formed by tradition, he converses
with it as if Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent” were his playbook. And, as Stallings and Kalfopoulou
demonstrate, he’s amenable to ongoing conversation, inviting us to reinterpret his work through words and events of
today.
I could go on, but my many words have already betrayed Cavafy’s blessed rage for concision. Go and read him for
yourself with an open heart and a thirst for beauty. For starters, and as an evocation of holy joy for this life in light of the
hoped-for life to come, I suggest Cavafy’s “Ithaka (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51296/ithaka-
56d22eef917ec).” One would be hard-pressed to do better.
image: ©2004 The Image Works / TopFoto
Facebook
cavafy%2F&t=Poems%20for%20the%20Time%20Being%3A%20Why%20You%20Should%20Read%20C
(http://www facebook com/sharer php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimagejournal
the time being why you should read org%2F2019%2F05%2F27%2Fpoems
cp P %20Cavafy)
for

for the time being why you shouldTwitter

text=Poems%20for%20the%20Time%20Being%3A%20Why%20You%20Should%20Read%20C
(http://twitter
readcom/share?
P
cp%20Cavafy&url=http
cavafy%2F&via=im

time being whyGoogle+

cavafy%2F&t=Poems%20for%20the%20Time%20Being%3A%20Why%20You%20Should%20Read%20C
(https://plus google com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimagejournal
you should read
org%2F2019%2F05%2F27%2Fpoems
cp P %20Cavafy)
for the

Bu er
cavafy%2F&title=Poems%20for%20the%20Time%20Being%3A%20Why%20You%20Should%20Read%20C
(https://bu erapp com/add?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimagejournal
being why you should read
org%2F2019%2F05%2F27%2Fpoems
cp for
P the
%20Cava
time

Pinterest
The Image archive is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: Adrienne Kalfopoulou (https://imagejournal.org/tag/adrienne-kalfopoulou/)
AE Stallings (https://imagejournal.org/tag/ae-stallings/) Aliki Barnstone (https://imagejournal.org/tag/aliki-barnstone/)
 MENU
Byzantine (https://imagejournal.org/tag/byzantine/) Greek poets (https://imagejournal.org/tag/greek-poets/)
Image 100 (https://imagejournal.org/tag/image-100/) orthodoxy (https://imagejournal.org/tag/orthodoxy/)
(/)
Written by: Brian Volck
Brian Volck is a pediatrician who received his undergraduate degree in English Literature and his MD from Washington
University in St. Louis and his MFA in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of a poetry
collection, ISSUEBecomes Word, and a memoir, Attending Others: A Doctor’s Education in Bodies and Words. His essays,
Flesh
CURRENT
poetry, and reviews have appeared in various periodicals and journals, including DoubleTake, Health Affairs, and Image.
He provides clinical care in Maryland and on the Navajo Nation and is working on a book on the Navajo, history, and
SEARCH
health.
102)
LOGIN SUBSCRIBE
(/JOURNAL/SUBSCRIBE/) Listen to our podcast.
Most Popular
(https://imagejournal.org/article/beheaded/)
The Cult of the Beheaded (https://imagejournal.org/article/beheaded/)

by Elizabeth Harper (https://imagejournal.org/author/meaghan-ritchey/)
(https://imagejournal.org/article/who-is-my-mother-who-are-my-brothers/)
Who Is My Mother, Who Are My Brothers? (https://imagejournal.org/article/who-is-my-mother-who-are-my-

brothers/)
by Sara Zarr (https://imagejournal.org/author/staff/)
(https://imagejournal org/article/caedmons-hymn-the-first-english-poet/)
(https://imagejournal.org/article/caedmons hymn the first english poet/)
 MENU
Caedmon’s Hymn: The First English Poet (https://imagejournal.org/article/caedmons-hymn-the-first-english-poet/)

by Edward Hirsch (https://imagejournal.org/author/staff/)
(/)
(https://imagejournal.org/article/god-alone-divine-absence-in-horror-films/)
CURRENT ISSUE
Divine Absence in Horror Films (https://imagejournal.org/article/god-alone-divine-absence-in-horror-films/)
by Nick Ripatrazone (https://imagejournal.org/author/meaghan-ritchey/)
SEARCH
102)
LOGIN (https://imagejournal.org/article/kurt-vonnegut/)
SUBSCRIBE
Kurt Vonnegut, Christ-Loving Atheist (https://imagejournal.org/article/kurt-vonnegut/)

by Dan Wakefield (https://imagejournal.org/author/staff/)
Current Issue
(https://imagejournal.org/issue-102/?issue=issue-102)
USA
3307 Third Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119
Canada
Suite 2090, 1055 West Georgia Street PO Box 11168
Vancouver British Columbia V6E 3R5, Canada
Content © 1999 - 2019 Center For Religious Humanism

Back To Top ^

Poems For The Time Being - Why You Should Read C.P. Cavafy - Image Journal

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Poems For The Time Being - Why You Should Read C.P. Cavafy - Image Journal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

11/7/2019 Poems for the Time Being: Why You Should Read C.P.

Cavafy - Image Journal

Poems for the Time Being: Why You Should Read

image: ©2004 The Image Works / TopFoto

for the time being why you shouldTwitter

time being whyGoogle+

Tags: Adrienne Kalfopoulou (https://imagejournal.org/tag/adrienne-kalfopoulou/)

Image 100 (https://imagejournal.org/tag/image-100/) orthodoxy (https://imagejournal.org/tag/orthodoxy/)

(/JOURNAL/SUBSCRIBE/) Listen to our podcast.

The Cult of the Beheaded (https://imagejournal.org/article/beheaded/)

Who Is My Mother, Who Are My Brothers? (https://imagejournal.org/article/who-is-my-mother-who-are-my-

Caedmon’s Hymn: The First English Poet (https://imagejournal.org/article/caedmons-hymn-the-first-english-poet/)

Kurt Vonnegut, Christ-Loving Atheist (https://imagejournal.org/article/kurt-vonnegut/)

Content © 1999 - 2019 Center For Religious Humanism

You might also like