The Birds

by Paul Muldoon

Signed by the author

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Born in Northern Ireland, Muldoon currently resides in the US and teaches at Princeton University. He held the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1999 through 2004. In September 2007, Muldoon became the poetry editor of The New Yorker.

Awards:
1992: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for Madoc: A Mystery
1994: T. S. Eliot Prize for The Annals of Chile
1997: Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry for New Selected Poems 1968–1994
2002: T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) for Moy Sand and Gravel
2003: Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada) for Moy Sand and Gravel
2003: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Moy Sand and Gravel
2004: American Ireland Fund Literary Award
2004: Aspen Prize
2004: Shakespeare Prize

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a translation of Aristophanes' play, so Muldoon sticks pretty directly to the plot, characterization, and themes of Aristophanes. Muldoon'd stylistic choices are interesting, in that he combines a fidelity to Aristophanes' lowbrow humor (including a lot of sex jokes) with a sophisticated writing style. One of the most visible signs of this sophistication is the blend of prose and verse writing, which is a very traditional technique for distinguishing between characters at different social or moral levels. In Renaissance drama, for instance, playwrights would often have nobles speak in verse and commoners in prose. Here, for the early part of the play, at least, Muldoon has the humans speaking in prose and the birds (on their higher, airy plane, perhaps) speaking in verse. This approach to the characters' language subtly signals differences in outlook, attitude, and status throughout the play.

[Jewelea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The language is hilarious. So many modern phrases and slang.

[Leif · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paul Muldoon – and his collaborator Richard Martin – has turned his translations on better targets than this, Aristophanes's comedy of politics and religion, for in reaching so far they scatter and confuse Muldoon's sly references across an uneven path. Aristophanes deserves better. There were a few chuckling moments, a few raised eyebrows, but moreso many flipped pages and page-counts until the thing was done.