Modernist Hellenism

The first book to offer a detailed yet broad overview of the poetic engagement with Greece across the modernist period (1910s–1950s). Provides new readings of canonical and lesser-known works and presents unpublished archival materials. A resource for scholars of modern poetry, especially in its relation to translation and the classics.

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Modernist Hellenism argues that engagement with Greek was central to the evolution of modernist poetics throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It shows that Eliot, Pound, and H.D. all turn to Greek literature, and increasingly Greek tragedy, as they attempt to grapple not only with their own evolving poetics but also with changing sociocultural circumstances at large. Revisiting major modernist works from the perspective of each poet's translations and adaptations from Greek, and drawing on archival materials, the book distinguishes Pound and H.D.'s work from Eliot's and argues for the existence of a specifically modernist hellenism (rather than, say, classicizing or idealizing, decadent or heretical), which is personal, politicized, and unconstrained by institutional standards, but also profoundly textual, language-based, and engaged with classical scholarship. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.