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The Collected Lyrical Poems of Luís de Camões

Luiz Vaz De Camões
Translated by Landeg White
Princeton University Press 2008

UK Price: £7.88

US Price: $15.56

I’ll sing of love in a manner so svelte,
with theme and style perfectly matched,
two thousand amorous parts of speech
will make hearts feel what they never felt.

I’ll do it so love confers life,
painting its thousand delicate mysteries,
its blank rages, its heart-felt sighs,
it foolhardy courage, its remote grief.

But in writing of the highborn disdain
of your tender and fastidious eyes,
I’m content to play the lesser part.

For to sing of your face, a composition
in itself sublime and marvelous,
I lack knowledge, Lady; and wit and art.

Reviews

“What an occasion! What a treasure! This book makes available for the first time in English a unique body of Renaissance poetry and a great classic of Western literature. Ably translated by Landeg White, this is a truly valuable literary achievement.”

Richard Howard,
Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation

“A qualidade deste trabalho deriva do modo como foi possível sintetizar a copiosa informação erudita, a exigência do rigor ensaística e a maturidade da vocação poética do próprio tradutor, com o objectivo ambicioso de reescrever Camões e, assim, prolongar no século XXI o labor meritório de eminentes lusófilos de expressão inglesa.”

João Almeida Flor,
Romântica, no 18. 2009

“This book is a major achievement. Superbly clear and seemingly effortless, Landeg White’s translations reveal a thoroughly modern and engaging Camões, one who will undoubtedly speak to new generations of readers. White’s organization of the poems by Camões’s travels to Africa, India, and beyond makes the book read like a journey and gives a provocative vision of Camões’s range as a poet. This book sets a new standard for readers and translators of Portuguese poetry.”

José Luiz Passos,
University of California, Los Angeles

“These translations bring Camões’s genius within reach of an audience who cannot read the elegant, intricate originals. The volume is a worthy and timely addition to the classics of poetry in translation published as part of Princeton’s Lockert Library series.”

Claire Williams,
Times Literary Supplement