Constantino Cavafis fue un poeta griego, una de las figuras literarias más importantes del siglo XX y uno de los mayores exponentes del renacimiento de la lengua griega moderna.
Trabajó como periodista y como funcionario, y publicó relativamente poco en vida, aunque tras su muerte su obra cobró paulatinamente influencia.
“Contemplé tanto la belleza,
que mi vista le pertenece.”
Versos de Poesías completas
Fuente: [[Señor], Luis, Diccionario de citas, Editorial Espasa Calpe, 2005, 75] ISBN 8423992543
Fuente: Inicio del poema LXIX Contemplé tanto (1917).
Fuente: [Kavafis] (1976), p.87
“Its councils are full of Legislators
no charlatan can fool.”
The First Step http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=145&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992) <br class="br">Contexto: Just to be on the first step<br>should make you happy and proud.<br>To have come this far is no small achievement:<br>what you have done is a glorious thing.<br>Even this first step<br>is a long way above the ordinary world.<br>To stand on this step<br>you must be in your own right<br>a member of the city of ideas.<br>And it is a hard, unusual thing<br>to be enrolled as a citizen of that city.<br>Its councils are full of Legislators<br>no charlatan can fool.
“The frivolous can call me frivolous.
I’ve always been most punctilious about
important things.”
A Byzantine Nobleman in Exile Composing Verses http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=16&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992) <br class="br">Contexto: The frivolous can call me frivolous.<br>I’ve always been most punctilious about<br>important things. And I insist<br>that no one knows better than I do<br>the Holy Fathers, or the Scriptures, or the Canons of the Councils.
“And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.”
" In the Same Space http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_134.htm" (1929) <br class="br">Contexto: p>I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,<br>with so many incidents, so many details.And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.</p
The God Abandons Antony http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=12&cat=1 (1911).<br>Variant translations:<br>Like one who’s long prepared, like someone brave,<br>as befits a man who’s been blessed with a city like this,<br>go without faltering toward the window<br>and listen with deep emotion, but not<br>with the entreaties and the whining of a coward,<br>to the sounds — a final entertainment —<br>to the exquisite instruments of that initiate crew,<br>and bid farewell to her, to Alexandria, whom you are losing.<br>As translated by Daniel Mendelsohn (2009).<br>Don't mourn your luck that's failing now,<br>work gone wrong, your plans<br>all proving deceptive — don't mourn them uselessly:<br>as one long prepared, and full of courage,<br>say goodbye to her, to Alexandria who is leaving.<br> Unknown translator http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_20.htm <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992) <br class="br">Contexto: Don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,<br>work gone wrong, your plans<br>all proving deceptive — don’t mourn them uselessly.<br>As one long prepared, and graced with courage,<br>say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.<br>Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say<br>it was a dream, your ears deceived you:<br>don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.
“Speak not of guilt, speak not of responsibility.”
The Regiment of the Senses http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=296&cat=5 as translated by Manuel Savidis <br class="br">Contexto: Speak not of guilt, speak not of responsibility. When the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners; when the senses shiver and shudder, it is only a fool and and an irreverent person that will keep his distance, who will not embrace the good cause, marching towards the conquest of pleasures and passions.<br>All of morality’s laws – poorly understood and applied – are nil and cannot stand even for a moment, when the Regiment of the Senses parades by, with music, and with banners.
"Candles" [Κεριά], as translated by Manolis, in Constantine P. Cavafy: Poems (2008) edited by George Amabile
A Great Procession of Priests and Laymen http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=87&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
“If you are one of the truly elect,
be careful how you attain your eminence.”
Theodotos http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=105&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
To Call Up the Shades http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=17&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
" Body, Remember... http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_45.htm" (1918)
Constantine P. Cavafy Waiting for the Barbarians
Fuente: Waiting for the Barbarians (1904), l. 16
“The Rest I Will Tell to Those Down to Hades” http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=173&cat=4 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
Nero’s Deadline http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=53&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
“From my most unnoticed actions,
my most veiled writing —
from these alone will I be understood.”
Hidden Things
Collected Poems (1992)
Before Time Altered Them http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=123&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
Κατόπι — στὴν τελειοτέρα κοινωνία —
κανένας ἄλλος καμωμένος σὰν ἐμένα
βέβαια θὰ φανεῖ κ’ ἐλεύθερα θὰ κάμει.
Hidden Things
Collected Poems (1992)
Julian in Nicomedia
Collected Poems (1992)
King Claudius http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=163&cat=4 (inspired by the story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare) <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
Nero’s Deadline
Collected Poems (1992)
Fuente: To Have Taken The Trouble (1930), l. 18
The Intervention of the Gods http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=235&cat=4 <br class="br">Poems by C. P. Cavafy (2003)
“From all I did and all I said
let no one try to find out who I was.”
Hidden Things http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=161&cat=4 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
When They Come Alive http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=114&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
Second Odyssey http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=329&cat=4, as translated by Walter Kaiser <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
Longings http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=45&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
As Much As You Can http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=113&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
" Ithaka http://cavafis.compupress.gr/kave_17.htm", l. 1 (1911)
Monotony http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=96&cat=1 <br class="br">Collected Poems (1992)
