The Longman Anthology of World Literature offers a fresh and highly teachable presentation of the varieties of world literature from the ancient world to the early modern period.

Table of Contents

VOLUME A: THE ANCIENT WORLD THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST The Babylonian Theogony (c. 2nd millennium B.C.E), (trans. W. G. Lambert) A Memphite Theology (c. 2500 B.C.E.), (trans. Miriam Lichtheim) Genesis: Chapters 1-11 (1st millennium B.C.E.), (trans. Robert Alter) Translations: Genesis POETRY OF LOVE AND DEVOTION (c. 3rd to 2nd millennium B.C.E.) Last night, as I, the queen, was shining bright (trans. S. N. Kramer) Egyptian Love Songs (trans. W. K. Simpson) Distracting is the foliage of my pasture (trans. W. K. Simpson) I sail downstream in the ferry by the pull of the current (trans. W. K. Simpson) The voice of the turtledove speaks out (trans. W. K. Simpson) I embrace her, and her arms open wide (trans. W. K. Simpson) One, the lady love without a duplicate (trans. W. K. Simpson) How well the lady knows to cast the noose (trans. W. K. Simpson) Why need you hold converse with your heart? (trans. W. K. Simpson) I passed by her house in the dark (trans. W. K. Simpson) THE SONG OF SONGS (1st millennium B.C.E.), (trans. Jerusalem Bible translation) THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH (c. 1200 B.C.E.), (trans. Maureen Gallery Kovacs) Perspectives: Death and Immortality The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld (late 2nd millennium B.C.E), (trans. Stephanie Dalley) from The Book of the Dead (2nd millennium B.C.E.), (trans. Miriam Lichtheim) Letters to the Dead (2nd to 1st millennium B.C.E.), (trans. Gardiner and Sethe) Kabti-Ilani-Marduk: Erra and Ishum (8th century B.C.E.),(trans. David Damrosch) Crosscurrents THE BOOK OF JOB (6th century B.C.E.), (trans. Revised Standard Version) Resonances from The Babylonian Theodicy Psalm 22 "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Psalm 102 "Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come unto thee!" Perspectives: Strangers in a Strange Land The Story of Sinuhe (c. 1925 B.C.E.), (trans. Miriam Lichtheim) The Two Brothers (c. 1200 B.C.E.), (trans. Miriam Lichtheim) The Joseph Story (1st millennium B.C.E.), (New International Version) Genesis 37-50 The Book of Ruth (c. late 6th century B.C.E.), (New International Version) Crosscurrents CLASSICAL GREECE HOMER (8th century B.C.E.) from The Iliad (trans. Richmond Lattimore) Book 1: The Wrath of Achilles Book 18: Achilles' Sheild Book 22: The Death of Hektor Book 24: Achilles and Priam Resonance Filip Visnjic: The Death of Kraljevic Marko (trans. Foley) The Odyssey (trans. Robert Fagles) Book 1. Athena Inspires the Prince Book 2. Telemachus Sets Sail Book 3. King Nestor Remembers Book 4. The King and Queen of Sparta Book 5. Odysseus - Nymph and Shipwreck Book 6. The Princess and the Stranger Book 7. Phaeacia's Halls and Gardens Book 8. A Day for Songs and Contests Book 9. In the One-Eyed Giant's Cave Book 10. The Bewitching Queen of Aeaea Book 11. The Kingdom of the Dead Book 12. The Cattle of the Sun Book 13. Ithaca at Last Book 14. The Loyal Swineherd Book 15. The Prince Sets Sail for Home Book 16. Father and Son Book 17. Stranger at the Gates Book 18. The Beggar-King of Ithaca Book 19. Penelope and Her Guest Book 20. Portents Gather Book 21. Odysseus Strings His Bow Book 22. Slaughter in the Hall Book 23. The Great Rooted Bed Book 24. Peace Resonances Franz Kafka: The Silence of the Sirens(trans. Muir and Muir) George Seferis: Upon a Foreign Verse (trans. Keeley and Sherrard) Derek Walcott: from Omeros ARCHAIC LYRIC POETRY ARKHILOKHOS (7th century B.C.E) Encounter in a Meadow (trans. M. L. West) The Fox and the Hedgehog (trans. M. L. West) Elegies (trans. M. L. West) SAPPHO (early 7th century B.C.E) Rich-throned immortal Aphrodite (trans. M. L. West) Come, goddess (trans. M. L. West) Some think a fleet (trans. M. L. West) He looks to me to be in heaven (trans. M. L. West) Love shakes my heart (trans. M. L. West) Honestly, I wish I were dead (trans. M. L. West) !she worshipped you (trans. M. L. West) Like a sweet-apple (trans. M. L. West) The doorman's feet (trans. M. L. West) Resonance Alejandra Pizarnik: Poem, Lovers, Recognition, Meaning of His Absence, Dawn, Falling (trans. Graziano et. al.) ALKAIOS (7th -- 6th century B.C.E) And fluttered Argive Helen's heart (trans. M. L. West) They tell that Priam and his sons (trans. M. L. West) The high hall is agleam (trans. M. L. West) I can't make out the lie of the winds (trans. M. L. West) PINDAR (518-438 B.C.E.) First Olympian Ode (trans. Frank J. Nisetich) Resonances John Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn Rainer Maria Rilke: Archaic Torso of Apollo (trans. Arndt) AESCHYLUS (525-456 B.C.E.). Agamemnon (trans. Richmond Lattimore) Resonance W. B. Yeats: Leda and the Swan SOPHOCLES (496-406 B.C.E.) Oedipus the King (trans. David Grene) Antigone (trans. R. Fagles) Resonance Aristotle: from Poetics (trans. Dorsch) Perspectives: Tyranny and Democracy Solon (c. 640-558 B.C.E.) Our state will never fail (trans. M. L. West) The commons I have granted (trans. M. L. West) Those aims for which I called the public meeting (trans. M. L. West) Thucydides (c. 460-400 B.C.E.) from The Peloponnesian War (trans. Steven Lattimore) Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E) Apology (trans. Jowett) Crosscurrents EURIPIDES (c. 480-405 B.C.E.) The Medea (trans. Rex Warner) Resonance Friedrich Nietzsche: from The Birth of Tragedy (trans. Fadiman) ARISTOPHANES (445-c.380 B.C.E.) Lysistrata (trans. J. Henderson) EARLY SOUTH ASIA THE MAHABHARATA OF VYASA (last centuries B.C.E.-early centuries C.E.) Book 2: The Friendly Dice Game (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) Book 5: The Temptation of Karna (trans. J.A.B. van Buitenen) Book 6: from The Bhagavad Gita (trans. Barbara Stoler Miller) Translations: The Bhagavad Gita Resonances Kautilya: from The Treatise on Power (trans. Kangle) Asoka: from Inscriptions (trans. Nikam and McKeon) THE RAMAYANA OF VALMIKI (last centuries B.C.E.) Book 2: The Exile of Rama (trans. Sheldon Pollock) Book 3: The Abduction of Sita (trans. Sheldon Pollock) Book 6: The Death of Ravana and The Fire Ordeal of Sita (trans. Goldman et al.) Resonances from A Public Address, 1989: The Birthplace of God Cannot Be Moved (trans. Busch) Daya Pawar, et al.: We Are Not Your Monkeys (trans. Patwardban) Perspectives: What is "Literature"? The Ramayana of Valmiki The Invention of Poetry (trans. Robert P. Goldman) Rajashekhara (early 900s) from Inquiry into Literature (trans. Sheldon Pollock) Anandavardhana (mid-800s) from Light on Suggestion (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls et al.) Crosscurrents LOVE IN A COURTLY LANGAUGE THE TAMIL ANTHOLOGIES (2nd -3rd century) Orampokiyar: What Her Girl Friend Said (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Anonymous: What Her Girl Friend Said to Him (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Kapliar: What She Said (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Uruttiran: What She Said to Her Girl Friend (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Maturaittamilkkutta Katuvan Mallanar: What the Servants Said to Him (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Vanmanipputi: What She Said to Her Girl Friend (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) THE SEVEN HUNDRED SONGS OF HALA (2nd-3rd century) At night, cheeks blushed (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) After a quarrel (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) His form (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) While the bhikshu (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) Though he's wronged me (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) Tight lads in fields (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) He finds the missionary position (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) When she bends to touch (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) As though she'd glimpsed (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) Those men (trans. A. K. Mehrotra) THE HUNDRED POEMS OF AMARU (7th century) She is the child, but I the one of timid heart (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) You will return in an hour? (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) As he came to bed the knot fell open of itself (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) At first our bodies knew a perfect oneness (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) Your palm erases from your cheek the painted ornament (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) They lay upon the bed each turned aside (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) If you are angry with me, you of lotus eyes (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) You listened not to words of friends (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) At day's end as the darkness crept apace (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) Held her (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) Lush clouds in (trans. Daniel H. H. Ingalls) KALIDASA (4th -5th century) Shakuntala and the Ring of Recollection (trans. B. S. Miller) Resonances Kuntaka: from The Life-force of Literary Beauty (trans. Krishnamoorthy) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: On Shakuntala (trans. Pollock) Rabindranath Tagore: from Shakuntala: Its Inner Meaning CHINA: THE CLASSICAL TRADITION THE BOOK OF SONGS (1000-600 B.C.E.) 1 The Ospreys Cry (trans. Arthur Waley) 5 Locusts (trans. Arthur Waley) 20 Plop Fall the Plums (trans. Arthur Waley) 23 In the Wilds is a Dead Doe (trans. Arthur Waley) Resonances In the wilds there is a dead deer (trans. Bernard Karlgren) Lies a dead deer on younder plain (trans. Ezra Pound) 26 Cypress Boar (trans. Arthur Waley) 41 Northern Wind (trans. Arthur Waley) 45 Of Fair Girls (trans. Arthur Waley) 26 Cypress Boat (trans. Arthur Waley) 76 I Beg You, Zhong (trans. Arthur Waley) 82 The Lady Says (trans. Arthur Waley) 94 Out in the Bushlands a Creeper Grows (trans. Arthur Waley) Resonances In the open grounds there is the creeping grass (trans. Bernhard Karlgren) Mid the bind-grass on the plain (trans. Ezra Pound) 96 The Cock Has Crowed (trans. Arthur Waley) 113 Big Rat (trans. Arthur Waley) 119 Tall Pear Tree (trans. Arthur Waley) 123 Tall is the Pear Tree (trans. Arthur Waley) 143 Moon Rising (trans. Arthur Waley) 154 The Seventh Month (trans. Arthur Waley) 166 May Heaven Guard (trans. Arthur Waley) Resonances Heaven protects and secures you (trans. Bernhard Karlgren) Heaven conserve thy course in quietness (trans. Ezra Pound) 189 The Beck (trans. Arthur Waley) 234 What Plant is not Faded? (trans. Arthur Waley) 238 Oak Clumps (trans. Arthur Waley) 245 Birth to the People (trans. Arthur Waley) 283 So They Appeared (trans. Arthur Waley) Resonances Confucius: from The Analects (trans. S. Leys) Wei Hong: from Preface to The Book of Songs (trans. Yu) CONFUCIUS (551-479 B.C.E.) from The Analects (trans. S. Leys) Perspectives: Daoism and its Ways from Dao De Jing (trans. D. C. Lau) from Zhuangzi (trans. Burton Watson) Liezi (4th century C.E.): from The Book of Liezi (trans. A.C. Graham) Xi Kang (223-262 C.E.): from Letter to Shan Tao (trans. J. Hightower) Liu Yiqing (403-444 C.E.): from A New Account of the Tales of the World (trans. R. B. Mather) Crosscurrents ROMEAND THE ROMAN EMPIRE VIRGIL (70-19 B.C.E.) Aeneid (trans. Robert Fitzgerald) from Book 1: A Fateful Haven from Book 2: How They Took the City Book 4: The Passion of the Queen from Book 6: The World Below from Book 8: Evander from Book 12: The Death of Turnus Resonances Horace: from Odes: 1.24: Why should our grief for a man so loved (trans. West) Macrobius: from Saturnalia (trans. Davies) OVID (43 B.C.E.-18 C.E.) Metamorphoses (trans. A. D. Melville) Books 1 and 2 Phaethon Book 3 Tiresias Narcissus and Echo Book 6 Arachne Book 8 The Minotaur Daedalus and Icarus Book 10 Orpheus and Eurydice Orpheus' Song: Ganymede, Hyacinth, Pygmalion Book 11 The Death of Orpheus Book 15 Pythagoras Perspectives: The Culture of Rome and the Beginnings of Christianity Catullus (84-54 B.C.E.) 3 "Cry out lamenting, Venuses and Cupids" (trans. Charles Martin) 5 "Lesbia, let us live only for loving" (trans. Charles Martin) 13 "You will dine well with me, my dear Fabullus" (trans. Charles Martin) 51 "To me that man seems like a god in heaven" (trans. Charles Martin) 76 "If any pleasure can come to a man through recalling" (trans. Charles Martin) 107 "If ever something which someone with no expectation" (trans. Charles Martin) Translations: Catullus' Poem 85 Crosscurrents Horace (65-8 B.C.E.) Satire 1.8 "Once I was wood from a worthless old fig tree" (trans. R. W. Hopper) Satire 1.5 "Leaving the big city behind I found lodgings at Aricia" (trans. N. Rudd) Ode 1.25 "The young bloods are not so eager now" (trans. David West) Ode 1.9 "Soracte standing white and deep" (trans. David West) Ode 2.13 "Not only did he plant you on an unholy day" (trans. David West) Ode 2.14 "Ah how quickly, Postumus, Postumus" (trans. David West) Petronius (d. 65 C.E.) from Satyricon (trans. J.P. Sullivan) Paul (c. 10- c. 67 C.E.) from Epistle to the Romans (trans. New Revised Standard Version) Luke (fl. 80-110 C.E.) from The Gospel According to Luke (trans. New Revised Standard Version) from The Acts of the Apostles (trans. New Revised Standard Version) Roman Responses to Early Christianity Suetonius (c. 70 - after 122 C.E.): from The Twelve Caesars Tacitus (c. 56 - after 118 C.E.): from The Annals of Imperial Rome Pliny the Younger (c. 60 - c. 112 C.E.): Letter to Emperor Trajan Trajan (Emperor of Rome, 98-117 C.E.): Response to Pliny (trans. B. Radice) AUGUSTINE (354-430 C.E.) Confessions (trans. Henry Chadwick) Book 1 Invocation and infancy Grammar school Book 2 The Pear-tree Book 3 Student at Carthage Book 5 Arrival in Rome Book 8 Ponticianus Pick up and read Book 9 Monica's death Book 11 Time, eternity, and memory Resonances Michel de Montaigne: from Essays (trans. Frame) Jean-Jacques Rousseau: from The Confessions (trans. Cohen) Bibliography Credits Index VOLUME B: THE MEDIEVAL ERA MEDIEVAL CHINA WOMEN IN EARLY CHINA LIU XIANG (c. 78-8 B.C.E.) Memoirs of Women (trans. Nancy Gibbs) The Mother of Mencius BAN ZHAO (c. 45-120) Lessons for Women (trans. Nancy Lee Swann) YUAN CAI (c. 1140-1195) from Precepts for Social Life (trans. Patricia Ebrey) VOICES OF WOMEN Here's a Willow Bough (trans. J. R. Allen) Midnight Songs (trans. Jeanne Larsen) A Peacock Southeast Flew (trans. Anne Birrell) Ballad of Mulan (trans. Arhur Waley) YAUN ZHEN (c. 779-831) The Story of Yingying (trans. Arthur Waley) Resonance Wang Shifu: from The Story of the Western Wing TAO QIAN (c. 365-427) Biography of the Gentleman of the Five Willows (trans. A.R. Davis) Peach Blossom Spring (trans. J.R. Hightower) Resonance Wang Wei (701-761): Song of Peach Blossom Spring (trans. Yu) The Return (trans. J.R. Hightower) Returning to the Farm to Dwell (trans. J.R. Hightower) From On Reading the Seas and Mountains Classic (trans. J.R. Hightower) The Double Ninth, in Retirement (trans. J.R. Hightower) In the Sixth Month of 408, Fire (trans. J.R. Hightower) Begging for Food (trans. J.R. Hightower) Finding Fault with My Sons (trans. J.R. Hightower) Twenty Poems after Drinking Wine (trans. J.R. Hightower) HAN SHAN (c. 600-800) Men ask the way to Cold Mountain (trans. Gary Snyder) Spring water in the green creek is clear (trans. Gary Snyder) When men see Han-shan (trans. Gary Snyder) I climb the road to Cold Mountain (trans. Burton Watson) Wonderful, this road to Cold Mountain (trans. Burton Watson) Cold cliffs, more beautiful the deeper you enter (trans. Burton Watson) Men these days search for a way through the clouds (trans. Burton Watson) Today I sat before the cliff (trans. Burton Watson) Have I a body or have I none (trans. Burton Watson) My mind is like the autumn moon (trans. Burton Watson) Do you have the poems of Han-shan in your house? (trans. Burton Watson) Resonance Lu-qui Yin: from Preface to the poems of Han-shan (trans. Snyder) POETRY OF THE TANG DYNASTY WANG WEI (701-761) from The Wang River Collection (trans. Pauline Yu) Preface 1 Meng Wall Cove 5 Deer Enclosure 8 Sophora Path 11 Lake Yi 17 Bamboo Lodge Bird Call Valley (trans. Pauline Yu) Farewell (trans. Pauline Yu) Farewell to Yuan the Second on His Mission to Anxi (trans. Pauline Yu) Visiting the Temple of Gathered Fragrance (trans. Pauline Yu) Zhongnan Retreat (trans. Pauline Yu) In Response to Vice-Magistrate Zhang (trans. Pauline Yu) LI BO (701-62) Drinking Alone by Moon (trans. Vikram Seth) Fighting South of the Ramparts (trans. Arthur Waley) The Road to Shu is Hard (trans. Vikram Seth) Bring in the Wine (trans. Vikram Seth) The Jewel Stairs' Grievance (trans. Ezra Pound) The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter (trans. Ezra Pound) Listening to a Monk from Shu Playing the Lute (trans. Vikram Seth) Farewell to a Friend (trans. Pauline Yu) In the Quiet Night (trans. Vikram Seth) Sitting Alone by Jingting Mountain (trans. Stephen Owen) Question and Answer in the Mountains (trans. Vikram Seth) DU FU (712-770) Ballad of the Army Carts (trans. Vikram Seth) Moonlit Night (trans. Vikram Seth) Spring Prospect (trans. Pauline Yu) Traveling at Night (trans. Pauline Yu) Autumn Meditations (trans. A.C. Graham) Yangzi and Han (trans. A.C. Graham) BO JUYI (772-846) Song of Unending Sorrow (trans. Witter Bynner) Perspectives: What is "Literature"? Cao Pi (187-226) from A Discourse on Literature (trans. Stephen Owen) Lu Ji (261-302) from Rhymeprose on Literature (trans. Achilles Fang) Liu Xie from The Literary Mind (trans. Stephen Owen) Wang Changling (c. 690- c. 756) from A Discussion of Literature and Meaning (trans. Richard Bodman) Sikong Tu (837-908) from The Twenty-four Classes of Poetry (trans. Pauline Yu and Stephen Owen) Crosscurrents JAPAN MAN'A"SHA , COLLECTION OF TEN THOUSAND LEAVES (c. 702 -- c. 785) Emperor Yuryaku (r. 456-479) Your basket, with your lovely basket (trans. T. Duthie) Emperor Jomei (r. 629-641) Climbing Kagu Mountain and looking upon the land Princess Nukata (c. 638-active until 690's) On spring and autumn (trans. E. Cranston) Kakinomoro No Hitomaro (active 689-700) On passing the ruined capital of omi (trans. T. Duthrie) Kakinomoro No Hitomaro(active 689-700) On leaving his wife as he set out from Iwami (trans. N. G. Shinkokai) Kakinomoro No Hitomaro(active 689-700) After the death of his wife (trans. Ian Levy) Yamabe No Akahito (fl. 724-736) On Mount Fuji (trans. Anne Commons) Yamanoue No Okura (c. 660-c. 733) Of longing for his children (trans. Edwin Cranston) MURASAKI SHIKIBU (c. 978 -- c. 1014) from The Tale of Genji (trans. Edward Seidensticker) from Chapter 1: The Paulownia Court from Chapter 2: The Broom Tree from Chapter 5: Lavender from Chapter 7: An Autumn Excursion from Chapter 9: Heartvine from Chapter 10: The Sacred Tree from Chapter 12: Suma from Chapter 13: Akashi from Chapter 25: Fireflies from Chapter 34: New Herbs (Part 1) from Chapter 35: New Herbs (Part 2) from Chapter 36: The Oak Tree from Chapter 40: The Rites from Chapter 41: The Wizard Resonances Murasaki Shikibu: from Diary (trans. Bowring) Daughter of Sugawara No Takasue: from Sarashina Diary (trans. Arntzen) Riverside Counselor's Stories: The Woman Who Preferred Insects (trans. Seidensticker) Perspectives: Courtly Women Ono No Komachi (fl. c. 850) While watching (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) Did he appear (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) When my desire (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) The seaweed gatherer's weary feet (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) The autumn night (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) I thought to pick (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) I know it must be this way (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) My longing for you (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) Though I go to him constantly (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) How invisibly (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) This body (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani) Mitchitsuna's Mother (936-995) from The Kagero Diary (trans. Sonja Arntzen) Sei Shonagon (c. 965- c. 1017) from The Pillowbook (trans. Ivan Morris) Crosscurrents TALES OF HEIKE (14th century) Bells of Gion Monastery (trans. B. Watson) Gio (trans. B. Watson) The Death of Kiyomori (trans. B. Watson) The Death of Lord Kiso (trans. B. Watson) The Death of Atsumori (trans. B. Watson) Death of Noritsune (trans. B. Watson) The Drowning of the Emperor (trans. B. Watson) The Six Paths of Existence (trans. B. Watson) The Death of the Imperial Lady (trans. B. Watson) Noh: Drama of Ghosts, Memories, and Salvation (trans. B. Watson) ZEAMI (c. 1363- c. 1443) Atsumori, a Tale of Heike Play (trans. Royall Tyler) Pining Wind (trans. Royall Tyler) Resonance Kyogen, Comic Interludes: Delicious Poison (trans. Kominz) CLASSICAL ARABIC AND ISLAMIC LITERATURES PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY IMRU' AL-QAYS (d. c. 550) Mu'allaqah "Stop, let us weep at the memory of a loved one" (trans. Alan Jones) AL-KHANSA' (c. 575-646) A mote in your eye, dust blown on the wind? (trans. Charles Greville Tuetey) Elegy for Ritha Sakhr "In the evening remembrance keeps me awake" (trans. Alan Jones) THE BRIGAND POETS -- AL SA'ALIK (trans. Alan Jones) Urwah ibn al-Ward, Do not be so free with your blame of me Ta'abbata Sharra, Come, who will convey to the young men Ta'abbata Sharra, A piece of news has come to us THE QUR'AN (trans. N.J. Dawood) from Sura 41. Revelations Well Expounded from Sura 79. The Soul Snatchers from Sura 15. The Rocky Tract from Sura 2. The Cow from Sura 7. The Heights Sura 1. The Opening from Sura 4. Women from Sura 5. The Table from Sura 8. The Spoils from Sura 12. Joseph from Sura 16. The Bee from Sura 18. The Cave from Sura 19. Mary from Sura 21. The Prophets from Sura 24. Light from Sura 28. The Story from Sura 36. Ya Sin from Sura 48. Victory Sura 71. Noah Sura 87. The Most High Sura 93. Daylight Sura 96. Clots of Blood Sura 110. Help Resonance Ibn Sa'ad: from The Prophet and his Disciples (trans. Haq and Ghazanfar) HAFIZ (c. 1317 -1389) The House of Hope (trans. A. J. Arberry) Zephyr (trans. J. H. Hindley) A Mad Heart (trans. A. J. Arberry) Cup in Hand (trans. J. Payne) Last Night I Dreamed (trans. Gertrude Bell) Harvest (trans. Richard le Gallienne) All My Pleasure (trans. A. J. Arberry) Wild Deer (trans. A. J. Arberry) Resonance Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Blissful Yearning (trans. Brown) Perspectives: Poetry, Wine and Love Abu Nuwas (755 -- c. 815) Splendid young blades, like lamps in the darkness (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) My body is racked with sickness, worn out by exhaustion (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) Praise wine in its sweetness (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) O censor, I satisfied the Imam, he was content (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) Bringing the cup of oblivion for sadness (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) What's between me and the censurers (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) His friend called him Sammaja for his beauty (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) One possessed with a rosy cheek (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt) Resonance Hasab al-Shaik Ja'far: from Descent of Abu Nuwas (trans. Der Hovanessian) Ibn al-Rumi (836-889) Say to whomever finds fault with the poem of his panegyrist (trans. Peter Blum, after Gregor Schoeler) I have been deprived of all the comforts of life (trans. Peter Blum, after Gregor Schoeler) I thought of you the day my journeys (trans. Robert McKinney) Sweet sleep has been barred from my eyes (trans. A.J. Arberry) Al-Mutanabbi (915-955) On Hearing in Egypt that his Death had been Reported (trans. A.J. Arberry) Satire on Kafur Composed! before the Poet's Departure (trans. A.J. Arberry) Panegyric to Abdud al-Daula and his sons (trans. A.J. Arberry) Crosscurrents THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (9th -- 14th century) Prologue: The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad (trans. Husain Haddawy) His Vizier's Daughter The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey The Tale of the Merchant and His Wife The Tale of the Porter and the Young Girls (trans. Powys Mathers after J.C. Mardrus) Tale of the Second Kalander The Tale of Zubaidah, the First of the Girls from The Tale of Sympathy the Learned (trans. Powys Mathers after J.C. Mardrus) from An Adventure of the Poet Abu Nuwas (trans. Powys Mathers after J.C. Mardrus) The Flowering Terrace of Wit and the Garden of Gallantry (trans. Powys Mathers after J.C. Mardrus) The Youth and His Master The Wonderful Bag Al-Rashid Judges of Love from The End of Ja'far and the Barmakids (trans. Powys Mathers after J.C. Mardrus) Conclusion (trans. Powys Mathers after J.C. Mardrus) Resonance from The History of al-Tabari (trans. Bosworth) Translations: One Thousand and One Nights JALA AL-DIN RUMI (1207-1273) What excuses have you to offer, my heart, for so many shortcomings? (trans. A.J. Arberry) The king has come, the king has come, adorn your palace-hall (trans. A.J. Arberry) Have you ever seen any lover who was satiated with this passion? (trans. A.J. Arberry) Three days it is now since my fair one has become changed (trans. A.J. Arberry) The month of December has departed, and January too (trans. A.J. Arberry) We have become drunk, and our heart has departed (trans. A.J. Arberry) We are foes to ourselves, and friends to him who slays us (trans. A.J. Arberry) Not for a single moment do I let hold of you (trans. A.J. Arberry) Who'll take us home, now we've drunk ourselves blind? (trans. Amin Banani) Perspectives: Asceticism, Sufism, and Wisdom Al-Hallaj (857-922) I have a dear friend whom I visit in solitary places (trans. D. P. Brewster) I continued to float on the sea of love (trans. M. M. Badawi) Painful enough it is that I am ever calling out to You (trans. M. M. Badawi) Your place in my heart is the whole of my heart (trans. M. M. Badawi) You who blame me for my love of Him (trans. M. M. Badawi) I swear to God, the sun has never risen or set (trans. M. M. Badawi) Ah! I or You? These are two Gods (trans. Samah Salim) Here am I, here am I, O my secret, O my trust! (trans. Samah Salim) I am not I and I am not He; then who am I and who is He? (trans. Samah Salim) Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240) O domicile without rival, neither abandoned (trans. Gerald Elmore) I am "The Reviver"-I speak not allusively (trans. Gerald Elmore) Of knowers, am I not most avaricious (trans. Gerald Elmore) Truly, my two Friends, I am a keeper of the Holy Law (trans. Gerald Elmore) Time is passing by the days of my youth and vigor (trans. Gerald Elmore) Bouts of dryness came upon me constantly from every side (trans. Gerald Elmore) Law and Soundness make of him a heretic (trans. Gerald Elmore) The time of my release, which I had always calculated (trans. Gerald Elmore) To that which they don't understand all people do oppose (trans. Gerald Elmore) The abode from which thou art absent is sad (trans. Gerald Elmore) Farid al-Din al'Attar (c. 1119- c. 1190) from The Conference of the Birds (trans. Afkhan Darbandi and Dick Davis) Crosscurrents FIRDAWSI (c. 940-1020) Shah-nama: The Book of Kings (trans J.W. Clinton) from The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam (trans J.W. Clinton) IBN BATTUTA (1304-1369) from The Travels of Ibn Battuta (trans. Samuel Lee) THE EPIC OF SON-JARA (trans. J.W. Johnson) MEDIEVAL EUROPE BEOWULF (c. 750-950), (trans. A. Sullivan and T. Murphy) Resonances from The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (trans. Byock) Jorge Luis Borges: Poem Written in the Copy of Beowulf (trans. Reid) THE POEM OF THE CID (late 12th-early 13th century), (trans. W.S. Merwin) Perspectives: Iberia, the Meeting of Three Worlds Castilian Ballads and Traditional Songs (c. 11th -14th century) Ballad of Juliana (trans. Edwin Honig) Abenamar (trans. William M. Davis) These mountains, mother (trans. James Duffy) I will not pick verbena (trans. James Duffy) Three moorish girls (trans. Angela Buxton) Mozarabic Kharjas (10th-early 11th century) As if you were a stranger (trans. Dronke) Ah tell me, little sisters (trans. Dronke) My lord Ibrahim (trans. Dronke) I'll give you such love (trans. Dronke) Take me out of this plight (trans. Dronke) Mother, I shall not sleep (trans. William M. Davis) Ibn Hazm (c. 994-1064) from The Dove's Neckring (trans. James Monroe) Ibn Rushd (AverroA"s), (1126-1198) from The Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection (trans. G.F. Hourani) Between Religion and Philosophy (trans. G.F. Hourani) Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) Gentle now, doves (trans. Michael Sells) Solomon Ibn Gabirol (c. 1021- c. 1057) She looked at me and her eyelids burned (trans. William M. Davis) Behold the sun at evening (trans. Scheindlin) The mind is flawed (trans. Scheindlin) Winter wrote with the ink of its rain and showers (trans. Scheindlin) Yehuda Ha-Levi (before 1075-1141) Cups without wine are lowly (trans. William M. Davis) Ofra does her laundry with my tears (trans. Raymond Scheindlin) Once when I fondled him upon my thighs (trans. Scheindlin) From time's beginning, You were love's abode (trans. Scheindlin) Your breeze, Western shore, is perfumed (trans. Goldstein) My heart is in the east (trans. Goldstein) from The Book of the Khazars (trans. Hartwig Hirschfeld) Ramon Lull (1232-1315) from Blanquerna: The Book of the Lover and the Beloved (trans. E. Allison Peers) Dom Dinis, King of Portugal (1261-1325) Provencals right well may versify (trans. William M. Davis) Of what are you dying, daughter? (trans. Fowler) O blossoms of the verdant pine (trans. Fowler) The lovely girl arose at earliest dawn (trans. Fowler) Martin Codax (fl. mid-13th century) Ah God, if only my love could know (trans. Dronke) My beautiful sister, come hurry with me (trans. Fowler) Oh waves that I've come to see (trans. Fowler) Crosscurrents MARIE DE FRANCE (mid-12th - early 13th century) Lais (trans. Joan Ferrante and Robert Hanning) Prologue Bisclavret (The Werewolf) Chevrefoil (The Honeysuckle) SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (late 14th century), (trans. J.R.R. Tolkien) ABELARD (c. 1079 - c. 1142) AND HELOISE (c. 1095 - c. 1163) from The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (trans. Betty Radice) Abelard: David's Lament for Jonathan (trans. Helen Waddell) Abelard and Heloise: from Yes and No (trans. Brian Tierney) Resonance Bernard of Clairvaux: Letters against Abelard (trans. James) from THE PLAY OF ADAM (c. 1150) Scene 1, Adam and Eve (trans. Richard Axton & John Stevens) DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265-1321) from La Vita Nuova (trans. Mark Musa) The Divine Comedy (trans. Allen Mandelbaum) Inferno Purgatorio Canto 1: Arrival at Mount Purgatory Canto 2: The Ship of Souls Canto 22: The Angel of Liberality Canto 29: The Procession in the Earthly Paradise Canto 30: Beatrice Appears Paradiso Canto 1: Ascent Toward the Heavens Canto 3: The Souls Approach Canto 31: The Celestial Rose Canto 33: The Vision of God Resonances Dante's Hell Chaucer: from The Monk's Tale Thomas Medwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley: from Ugolino Amiri Baraka: from The System of Dante's Hell Translations: Dante Alighieri MARCO POLO (c. 1254-1324) from The Book of Wonders (trans. W. Marsden) Resonances Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Kubla Khan Italo Calvino: from Invisible Cities (trans. Samuel Lee) GEOFFREY CHAUCER (c. 1340-1400) Canterbury Tales (trans. J.U. Nicolson) The General Prologue The Miller's Prologue The Miller's Tale The Wife of Bath's Prologue The Wife of Bath's Tale Bibliography Credits Index VOLUME C: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD VERNACULAR WRITING IN SOUTH ASIA BASAVANNA (1106- c. 1167) Like a monkey on a tree (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) You can make them talk (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) The crookedness of the serpent (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Before the grey reaches the check (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) I don't know anything like time-beats and meter (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) The rich will make temples for Siva (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Resonance Palkuriki Somanatha: from The Lore of Basavanna (trans. Rao) MAHADEVIYAKKA (c. 1200) Other men are thorn (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Who cares (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) Better than meeting (trans. A. K. Ramanujan) KABIR (early 1400s) Saints, I see the world is mad (trans. Linda Hess and Shukdev Sinha) Brother, where did your two gods come from? (trans. Linda Hess and Shukdev Sinha) Pandit, look in your heart for knowledge (trans. Linda Hess and Shukdev Sinha) When you die, what do you do with your body? (trans. Linda Hess and Shukdev Sinha) It's a heavy confusion (trans. Linda Hess and Shukdev Sinha) The road the pandits took (trans. Linda Hess and Shukdev Sinha) TUKARAM (1608-1649) I was only dreaming (trans. Dilip Chitre) If only you would (trans. Dilip Chitre) Have I utterly lost my hold on reality (trans. Dilip Chitre) I scribble and cancel it again (trans. Dilip Chitre) Where does one begin with you? (trans. Dilip Chitre) Some of you may say (trans. Dilip Chitre) To arrange words (trans. Dilip Chitre) When my father died (trans. Dilip Chitre) Born a Shudra, I have been a trader (trans. Dilip Chitre) KSHETRAYYA (mid-17th century) A Woman to Her Lover (trans. A. K. Ramanujan et al.) A Young Woman to a Friend (trans. A. K. Ramanujan et al.) A Courtesan to Her Lover (trans. A. K. Ramanujan et al.) A Married Woman Speaks to Her Lover (trans. A. K. Ramanujan et al.) A Married Woman to Her Lover (1), (trans. A. K. Ramanujan et al.) A Married Woman to Her Lover (2), (trans. A. K. Ramanujan et al.) WU CHENG'EN (c. 1506-1581) from Journey to the West (trans. Anthony C. Yu) THE RISE OF THE VERNACULAR IN EUROPE ATTACKING AND DEFENDING THE VERNACULAR BIBLE Henry Knighton: from Chronicle (trans. Anne Hudson) Martin Luther: from On Translating: An Open Letter (trans. Michael and Bachmann) The King James Bible: from The Translators to the Reader WOMEN AND THE VERNACULAR Dante Alighieri: from Letter to Can Grande della Scala (trans. Robert S. Haller) Erasmus: from The Abbot and the Learned Lady (trans. Craig Thompson) Catherine of Siena: from Letter to Raymond of Capua (trans. S. Noffke) Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: from Response to "Sor Filotea" (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden) EARLY MODERN EUROPE GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO (1313-1375) Decameron (trans. G.H. McWilliam) Introduction First Day, Third Story (The Three Rings) Third Day, Tenth Story (Locking the Devil Up in Hell) Seventh Day, Fourth Story (The Woman Who Locked Her Husband Out) Tenth Day, Tenth Story (The Patient Griselda) MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE (1492-1549) Heptameron (trans. P.A. Chilton) First Day, Story 5 (The Two Friars) Fourth Day, Story 32 (The Woman Who Drank from Her Lover's Skull) Fourth Day, Story 36 (The Husband Who Punished His Faithless Wife by Means of a Salad) Eighth Day, Prologue Eighth Day, Story 71 (The Wife Who Came Back from the Dead) FRANCIS PETRACH (1304-1374) Letters on Familiar Matters (trans. Aldo Bernardo) To Dionigi da Borgo San Sepolcro (On Climbing Mt. Ventoux) from To Boccaccio (On imitation) Resonance Laura Cereta: To Sister Deodata di Leno (trans. Robin) The Canzoniere (trans. Mark Musa) During the Life of My Lady Laura 1 "O you who hear within these scattered verses" 3 "It was the day the sun's ray had turned pale" 16 "The old man takes his leave, white-haired and pale" 35 "Alone and deep in thought I measure out" 90 "She'd let her gold hair flow free in the breeze" 126 "Clear, cool, sweet running waters" 195 "From day to day my face and hair are changing" After the Death of My Lady Laura 267 "O God! That lovely face, that gentle look" 277 "If Love does not give me some new advice" 291 "When I see coming down the sky Aurora" 311 "That nightingale so tenderly lamenting" Resonance Virgil: from Fourth Georgic (trans. Fairclough) 353 "O lovely little bird singing away" 365 "I go my way lamenting those past times" from 366 "Virgin, so lovely, clothed in the sun's light" Resonances: Petrarch and His Translators Petrarch: Canzoniere 190 (trans. Durling) Thoman Wyatt: Whoso List to Hunt Petrarch: Canzoniere 209 (trans. Robert Durling) Chiara Matraini: Fera son io di questo ambroso loco Chiara Matraini: I am a wild deer in this shady wood (trans. Stortoni & Lillie) Translations: Petrach's Canzoniere 52 "Diana never pleased her lover more" Perspectives: Lyric Sequences and Self-Definition Louise Labe (c. 1520-1566) When I behold you (trans. Frank J. Warnke) Lute, companion of my wretched state (trans. Frank J. Warnke) Kiss me again (trans. Frank J. Warnke) Alas, what boots it that not long ago (trans. Frank J. Warnke) Do not reproach me, Ladies (trans. Frank J. Warnke) Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) This comes of dangling from the ceiling (trans. Peter Porter and George Bull) My Lord, in your most gracious face(trans. Peter Porter and George Bull) I wish to want, Lord (trans. Peter Porter and George Bull) No block of marble (trans. Peter Porter and Goerge Bull) How chances it, my Lady (trans. Peter Porter and George Bull) Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547) Between harsh rocks and violent wind (trans. Laura Anna Stortoni and Mary Prentic Lillie) Whatever life I once had (trans. Laura Anna Stortoni and Mary Prentic Lillie) William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 1 "From fairest creatures we desire increase" 3 "Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest" 17 "Who will believe my verse in time to come" 55 "Not marble nor the gilded monuments" 73 "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" 87 "Farewell: thou art too dear for my possessing" 116 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" 126 "O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power" 127 "In the old age black was not counted fair" 130 "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584) Laments (trans. D.P. Radin et. al.) 1 "Come, Heraclitus and Simonides" 6 "Dear little Slavic Sappho, we had thought" 10 "My dear delight, my Ursula and where" 14 "Where are those gates through which so long ago" Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (c. 1651-1695) She disavows the flattery visible in a portrait of herself (trans. Alan S. Trueblood) She complains of her lot (trans. Alan S. Trueblood) She shows distress at being abused for the applause her talent brings (trans. A. S. Trueblood) In which she visits moral censure on a rose (trans. Alan S. Trueblood) She answers suspicions in the rhetoric of tears (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden) On the death of that most excellent lady, Marquise de Mancera (trans. Alan S. Trueblood) Crosscurrents NICCOL MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527) The Prince (trans. Mark Musa) Dedicatory Letter Chapter 6: On New Principalities acquired by Means of Ones Own Arms and Ingenuities Chapter 18: How a Prince Should Keep His Word Chapter 25: How Much Fortune Can DO in Human Affairs and How to Contend with it Chapter 26: Exhortation to Take Hold of Italy and Liberate Her from the Barbarians Resonance Baldesar Castiglione: from The Book of the Courtier (trans. Singleton) FRANA OIS RABLAIS (c. 1495-1553) Gargantua and Pantagruel (trans. J.M. Cohen) The Author's Prologue Chapter 3: How Gargantua Was Carried Eleven Months in His Mother's Belly Chapter 4: How Gargamelle, When Great with Gargantua, Ate Great Quantities of Tripe Chapter 6: The Very Strange Manner of Gargantua's Birth Chapter 7: How Gargantua Received His Name Chapter 11: Concerning Gargantua's Childhood Chapter 16: How Gargantua Was Sent to Paris Chapter 17: How Gargantua Repaid the Parisians for Their Welcome Chapter 21: Gargantua's Studies Chapter 23: How Gargantua Was So Disciplined by Ponocrates Chapter 25: How a Great Quarrel Arose Between the Cake-bakers of Lerne and the People of Grandgousier's Country, Which Led to Great Wars Chapter 26: How the Inhabitants of Lerne, at the Command of Their King Pierchole, Made an Unexpected Attack on Grandgousier's Shepards Chapter 27: How a Monk of Scuilly Saved the Abbey-close Chapter 38: How Gargantua Ate Six Pilgrims in a Salad from Chapter 39: How the Monk Was Feasted by Gargantua Chapter 40: Why Monks are Shunned by the World Chapter 41: How the Monk Made Gargantua Sleep Chapter 42: How the Monk Encouraged His Companions Chapter 52: How Gargantua Had the Abbey of Theleme Built for the Monk from Chapter 53: How the Thelemites' Abbey Was Built and Endowed Chapter 57: The Rules According to Which the Themelites Lived Book 2 Chapter 8: How Pantagruel found Panurge from Chapter 9: How Pantagruel found Panurge Book 4 Chapter 55: Pantagruel, on the High Seas, Hears Various Words That Have Been Thawed Chapter 56: Pantagruel Hears some Gay Words LUAiS VAZ DE CAM'ES (c. 1524-1580) The Lusiads (trans. Landeg White) Canto 1 (Invocation) Canto 4 (King Manuel's death) Canto 5 (The curse of Adamastor) Canto 6 (The storm; the voyagers reach India) Canto 7 (Courage, heroes!) Resonance from Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco de Gama (trans. Ravenstein) MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533-1592) Essays (trans. Donald Frame) Of Idleness Of the Power of the Imagination Of Repentance Of Cannibals Resonance Jean de Lery: from History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Otherwise Called America (trans. J. Whatley) Of Repentance MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA (1547-1616) Don Quixote (trans. J. Rutherford) Chapter 1: The character of the knight Chapter 2: His first expedition Chapter 3: He attains knighthood Chapter 4: An adventure on leaving the inn Chapter 5: The knight's misfortunes continue from Chapter 6: The inquisitions in the library Chapter 7: His second expedition Chapter 8: The adventure of the windmills Chapter 9: The battle with the gallant Basque Chapter 10: A conversation with Sancho from Chapter 11: His meeting with the goatherds Chapter 12: The goatherd's story from Chapter 13: The conclusion of the story from Chapter 14: The dead shepherd's verses from Chapter 15: The meeting with Yanguesans from Chapter 18: A second conversation with Sancho Chapter 20: A tremendous exploit achieved Chapter 22: The liberation of the gallery slaves from Chapter 25: The knight's penitence from Chapter 52: The last adventure Book 2 Chapter 3: The knight, the squire and the bachelor Chapter 4: Sancho provides answers Chapter 10: Dulcinea enchanted from Chapter 25: Master Pedro the puppeteer Chapter 26: The puppet show Chapter 59: An extraordinary adventure at an inn Chapter 72: Knight and squire return to their village Chapter 73: A discussion about omens Chapter 74: The death of Don Quixote Resonance Jorge Luis Borges: Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote (trans. Andrew Hurley) LOPE DE VEGA CARPIO (1562-1635) Fuenteovejuna (trans. Jill Booty) WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) Othello, The Tragedy of the Moor of Mariam The Tempest Resonance Aime Cesaire: from A Tempest (trans. Snyder and Upson) JOHN DONNE (1572-1631) The Sun Rising Elegy: Going to Bed Air and Angels A Valediction: Forbidding mourning The Relic The Computation Holy Sonnets Oh my black soul! now thou art summoned Death be not proud, though some have called thee Batter my heart, three-person'd God I am a little world made cunningly Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one The Devotions: Upon Emergent Occasions 10 "They find the disease to steal on insensibly" from 17 "Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die" Sermons from The Second Prebend Sermon, on Psalm 63:7 "Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice" ANNE BRADSTREET (c. 1612-1672) The Author to Her Book To my Dear and Loving Husband A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment Before the Birth of One of Her Children Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 On My Dear Grand-child Simon Bradstreet To My Dear Children JOHN MILTON (1608-1674) On the Late Massacre in Piedmont When I Consider How My Light is Spent Paradise Lost from Book 1 from Book 4 Book 9 from Book 12 MESOAMERICA: BEFORE COLUMBUS AND AFTER CORTAeS from POPOL VUH: THE MAYAN COUNCIL BOOK (recorded mid-1550s) Creation (trans. D. Tedlock) Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the Underworld (trans. D. Tedlock) The Final Creation of Humans (trans. D. Tedlock) Migration and the Division of Languages (trans. D. Tedlock) The Death of the Quiche Forefathers (trans. D. Tedlock) Retrieving Writings from the East (trans. D. Tedlock) Conclusion (trans. D. Tedlock) SONGS OF THE AZTEC NOBILITY (15th -16th century) Burnishing them as sunshot jades (trans. Bierhorst) Flowers are our only adornment (trans. Bierhorst) I cry, I grieve, knowing we're to go away (trans. Bierhorst) Your hearts are shaken down as paintings, Moctezuma (trans. Bierhorst) I strike it up--here!--I, the singer (trans. Bierhorst) from Fish Song: It was composed when we were conquered (trans. Bierhorst) from Water-Pouring Song (trans. Bierhorst) In the flower house of sapodilla you remain a flower (trans. Bierhorst) Moctezuma, you creature of heaven, you sing in Mexico (trans. Bierhorst) Translations: Songs of the Aztec Nobility: Make your beginning, you who sing Perspectives: The Conquest and its Aftermath Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) from Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella (7 July 1503), (trans. R.H. Major) Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1492-1584) from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (trans. A. P. Maudslay) Hernando Ruiz de Alarcon (c. 1587-1645) from Treatise on the Superstitions of the Natives of this New Spain (trans. Coe & Whittaker) Resonance Julio Cortazar: Axolotl (trans. Blackburn) Bartolome de las Casas from Apologetic History (trans. George Sanderlin) Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (c. 1651-1695) from The Loa for the Auto Sacramental of The Divine Narcissus (trans. Peters and Domieier) Crosscurrents Bibliography Credits Index