What do you think?
Rate this book
Monochords
Poetry. Translated from the Greek by Paul Merchant. "The poems in this volume were written in the village of Karlovasi on Samos at the rate of about ten a day in the summer of 1979, a first draft written August 1st through 26th, the second completed by September 1st. After becoming dangerously ill in 1968, Ritsos had been released from the prison island of Leros and sent to strict house arrest on Samos, where his wife had a medical practice. He was allowed to return to Athens and to publish again in 1971. He subsequently spent summers on Samos, for instance in 1972, 1975, and 1979, when these poems were composed."--Paul Merchant
- GenresPoetry
206 pages, Paperback
Published September 30, 2017
About the author
Yiannis Ritsos
287 books303 followersYiannis Ritsos (Greek: Γιάννης Ρίτσος) is considered to be one of the five great Greek poets of the twentieth century, together with Konstantinos Kavafis, Kostas Kariotakis, Giorgos Seferis, and Odysseus Elytis. The French poet Louis Aragon once said that Ritsos was "the greatest poet of our age."
Yannis Ritsos was born in Monemvassia (Greece), on May 1st, 1909 as cadet of a noble family of landowners. Born to a well-to-do landowning family in Monemvasia, Ritsos suffered great losses as a child. The early deaths of his mother and his eldest brother from tuberculosis, the commitment of his father who suffered with mental disease and the economic ruin of losing his family marked Ritsos and affected his poetry. Ritsos, himself, was confined in a sanatorium for tuberculosis from 1927–1931.
These tragic events mark him and obsess his œuvre. In 1931, Ritsos joined the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–1945) he became a member of the EAM (National Liberation Front), and authored several poems for the Greek Resistance. These include a booklet of poems dedicated to the resistance leader Ares Velouchiotis, written immediately upon the latter's death on 16 June 1945. Ritsos also supported the left in the subsequent Civil War (1946-1949); in 1948 he was arrested and spent four years in prison camps.
Yannis Ritsos was born in Monemvassia (Greece), on May 1st, 1909 as cadet of a noble family of landowners. Born to a well-to-do landowning family in Monemvasia, Ritsos suffered great losses as a child. The early deaths of his mother and his eldest brother from tuberculosis, the commitment of his father who suffered with mental disease and the economic ruin of losing his family marked Ritsos and affected his poetry. Ritsos, himself, was confined in a sanatorium for tuberculosis from 1927–1931.
These tragic events mark him and obsess his œuvre. In 1931, Ritsos joined the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–1945) he became a member of the EAM (National Liberation Front), and authored several poems for the Greek Resistance. These include a booklet of poems dedicated to the resistance leader Ares Velouchiotis, written immediately upon the latter's death on 16 June 1945. Ritsos also supported the left in the subsequent Civil War (1946-1949); in 1948 he was arrested and spent four years in prison camps.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 31, 2020
-- 5 stars for the original Trask House Press edition, 2007.
-- 3.5 stars for the revised Tavern Books edition, 2017.
One of my very favorite books, in the original edition. A collection of one-line gems.
However, in the revised 2017 edition, the translator, in the interest of polishing the translations, appears to have polished away some of the intimacy and mystery of his originals -- at least to my ear.
I have no Greek, and cannot speak to the accuracy of these revisions. But I find many of the "re-translation" choices unfortunately flat. But then, maybe I'm biased from my first love of the original translations.
A few examples here below: decide for yourself. Still, there is plenty of magic in both editions, and you can't really go wrong with either.
2007 versions
(88) If you never close your eyes, you'll never grow.
(152) Tell me again, my friend -- so you start over.
(178) Grape harvesters and horses in the ocean. Bravo, comes the call from the balconies.
(195) All the words are not enough to get anything said.
(230) Night insects tangled in women’s hair, and voices in the corridors.
(329) Quiet night creatures, smelling the roses, patrolling the walls.
2017 versions
(88) If you never ever close your eyes, you won't grow.
(152) My friend, you tell me again, and start over.
(178) Grape harvesters and horses in the ocean. Bravo, they call from the balconies.
(195) All the words are too few for you to say anything.
(230) Nocturnal insects tangled in the women's hair and voices in the corridors.
(329) Quiet nocturnal creatures, smelling the roses, patrolling wall to wall.
-- 3.5 stars for the revised Tavern Books edition, 2017.
One of my very favorite books, in the original edition. A collection of one-line gems.
However, in the revised 2017 edition, the translator, in the interest of polishing the translations, appears to have polished away some of the intimacy and mystery of his originals -- at least to my ear.
I have no Greek, and cannot speak to the accuracy of these revisions. But I find many of the "re-translation" choices unfortunately flat. But then, maybe I'm biased from my first love of the original translations.
A few examples here below: decide for yourself. Still, there is plenty of magic in both editions, and you can't really go wrong with either.
2007 versions
(88) If you never close your eyes, you'll never grow.
(152) Tell me again, my friend -- so you start over.
(178) Grape harvesters and horses in the ocean. Bravo, comes the call from the balconies.
(195) All the words are not enough to get anything said.
(230) Night insects tangled in women’s hair, and voices in the corridors.
(329) Quiet night creatures, smelling the roses, patrolling the walls.
2017 versions
(88) If you never ever close your eyes, you won't grow.
(152) My friend, you tell me again, and start over.
(178) Grape harvesters and horses in the ocean. Bravo, they call from the balconies.
(195) All the words are too few for you to say anything.
(230) Nocturnal insects tangled in the women's hair and voices in the corridors.
(329) Quiet nocturnal creatures, smelling the roses, patrolling wall to wall.
May 11, 2017
SPD sent this free along with Fred Moten’s The Service Porch. So what the hell, I read it.
Ritsos takes up a challenging form in Monochords: the one line poem (though the book’s layout forces several poems into two lines). In one light, everything in a short poem can seem essential and luminous. In another light, the same poem can seem banal. There’s no remainder, no good or bad part, just a few words that don’t add up to zip. Imagistic poems seem to double down on this: “ The book asks the reader to rise to the challenge of slowing down, lingering in the spaces between the words. The poems themselves sometimes suggest to the reader that they look longer for what might be embedded in other lines—“They broke the drums and hid them in their manuscripts” (307)—or to imagine a poem beyond the poem—“The sawdust that fell from your hair, I find in my poem today” (300). Some monochords have a maxim/tool like quality, a nice little synoptic formula: “They loaded their sins onto others, and that way became saints” (42). What didn’t do it for me is the relentless vocabulary of archetype—sun, stones, seas, moons, Oedipus, monuments, etc.
Ritsos takes up a challenging form in Monochords: the one line poem (though the book’s layout forces several poems into two lines). In one light, everything in a short poem can seem essential and luminous. In another light, the same poem can seem banal. There’s no remainder, no good or bad part, just a few words that don’t add up to zip. Imagistic poems seem to double down on this: “ The book asks the reader to rise to the challenge of slowing down, lingering in the spaces between the words. The poems themselves sometimes suggest to the reader that they look longer for what might be embedded in other lines—“They broke the drums and hid them in their manuscripts” (307)—or to imagine a poem beyond the poem—“The sawdust that fell from your hair, I find in my poem today” (300). Some monochords have a maxim/tool like quality, a nice little synoptic formula: “They loaded their sins onto others, and that way became saints” (42). What didn’t do it for me is the relentless vocabulary of archetype—sun, stones, seas, moons, Oedipus, monuments, etc.
March 9, 2024
«Με το μικρό σου δάχτυλο, ανακινείς έναν κόσμο.»
[35]
[35]
Read
May 18, 2025A little “one-note” if you catch my drift (hehe) — I did like some of these a lot, but more than that I’m curious about his other work!!!
February 8, 2026
last week, i discovered god's lips in tulip petals. today, the divine in his eyes
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews