Mary Barnard (1958): Sappho: A New Translation. University of California Press.
x, 114pp. 100 fragments.
Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
eternal daughter of God,
snare-knitter! Don’t, I beg you,
cow my heart with grief!
Barnard’s translation of Sappho is undeniably influential. Despite Barnard’s initial difficulties in finding a publisher – a translation of Sappho was not considered commercially viable – it has remained continuously in print since 1958 and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Lovers of modern American poetry, or readers interested in tracing trends in translation over time, should absolutely pick up a copy of Barnard. First-time readers of Sappho should avoid it, however.
As a translation of Sappho, it’s seriously outdated. Barnard based her translation on J. M. Edmonds’ 1922 edition of Sappho’s poetry, which tends towards excessively speculative reconstruction and overcorrection. For instance, at the beginning of fr. 96 (40 Barnard), Barnard’s translation has:
Even in Sardis
Anactoria will think often of us
Barnard gets the name Anactoria from Edmonds, but she is in fact not mentioned anywhere in the surviving poem. Diane Rayor’s translation of the same lines reads:
... Sardis ...
often holding her thoughts here
Even more egregious is her translation of fr. 92 (43 Barnard), based on a text which even Edmonds admits was “very tentatively restored”:
“Sappho, if you will not get
up and let us look at you
I shall never love you again!
“Get up, unleash your suppleness,
lift of your Chian nightdress
and, like a lily leaning into
“a spring, bathe in the water.
Barnard’s translation continues for another sixteen lines. By contrast, this is Rayor’s translation in its entirety:
robe...
and...
saffron...
purple robe... [I shall show].
Cloaks...
garlands around...
[beautiful]...
[Phrygian]...
purple...
Other than the translation issues, there are other annoyances with trying to use Barnard as a translation of Sappho: she uses an entirely non-standard order, and the comparative numeration is both difficult to use and does not relate to the modern system; explanatory notes on the poems are lacking; she prepends each poem with a title of her own invention, without marking in any way that this is what they are.
A comparative numeration of Barnard’s edition of Sappho to the modern standard can be found here.