The songs of Bilitis : Translated from the Greek : A new rendering in English…
"The songs of Bilitis : Translated from the Greek : A new rendering in English…." by Pierre Louÿs is a collection of lyric poetry written in the late 19th century. Framed as translations of ancient Greek verses by a sixth‑century woman named Bilitis, it weaves pastoral imagery, mythic invocations, and frankly erotic feeling. In intimate first‑person songs, Bilitis moves from a rustic girlhood in Pamphylia to Sapphic love on Lesbos and, later,
a courtesan’s life in Cyprus, tracing desire, jealousy, ritual, and memory. The opening of the work presents a mock-scholarly “Life of Bilitis” that situates her birth, travels, and supposed connections to Sappho, capped by a fanciful tale of her tomb inscribed with the poems. The first sequence, Bucolics in Pamphylia, offers vivid vignettes of rural chores, nymph worship, playful friendships, and a hesitant sexual awakening that turns to ardor with the shepherd Lykas. The next, Elegiacs at Mytilene, shifts to Lesbos, where Bilitis meets Psappha (Sappho) and enters a consuming relationship with Mnasidika, depicted through tender domestic scenes, jealousy, separation, and aching attempts at forgetfulness. The third part begins in Cyprus with hymns to Astarte, Bacchic revels, and the refined, commercialized arts of love among courtesans, before the excerpt breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Purported translation of ancient Greek poems, originally written in French by Pierre Louÿs.
Credits
Hannah Wilson, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.)
Reading Level
Reading ease score: 83.2 (6th grade). Easy to read.
