The Elegies of Ovid. Translated by Chris- topher Marlowe. With
line drawings by Oscar Mellor. (The Fantasy Press. 35s.)
FROM (roughly) Howell's translation of the `fable of Narcissus' in 1560 to the mammoth composite translation of the Metamorphoses edited by Sir Samuel Garth (1717), transla- tions of Ovid occupy a central position in the history of English poetry. Apart from the interest of his subject-matter, which for five centuries was more familiar in English literature than the subject-matter of any other poet, Ovid had certain technical lessons to teach English poets—he was Shakespeare's favourite poet and also beloved of Milton—so that the translations had the same kind of importance for their time as, for instance, the translations of Ezra Pound had for the poetry of the earlier twentieth century. It is important to keep these translations in circulation, and while this re-issue of Marlowe's delightful version of the Amores could not be said to fill any long-felt want (the text being available in
any collected edition of Marlowe's works) it is always cheering when, for whatever motive, an important work is again laid before 'the eye of the modern reader. This edition, beautifully printed and illustrated with simple, pleasant nine draw.ngs of pensive nudes, is of course aimed at the 'gift book' market, in which it should make a hit. But the collector who buys the book as an" artifact will find it hard to avoid absorbing some beautiful poetry on the side.
J. W.
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