In the Sign of the Rainbow
Selected Poems 1940-1989
This is the first extensive collection of Philip Sherrard's poetry. Highly regarded for his verse translations of such poets as Cavafy, Elytis, Seferis and Sikelianos, he has previously published only two booklets of poetry. He has a fine lyric gift, and a style whose clarity owes something both to English and Greek traditions. In the "Sign of the Rainbow" shows his consistent development as a poet, from early poems written during the war – when he saw active service in Italy, Austria and Greece – to those written in his adopted Greece. The search for spiritual values is the constant theme of his poetry, which is forceful in its critique of modern materialism.
About the author
Philip Sherrard (1922-1995) lived his later years on the island of Evia. Among his many books perhaps the best-known are two studies of modern Greek literature, "The Marble Threshing Floor" and "The Wound of Greece", and the later "Edward Lear: The Corfu Years". With Edmund Keeley he translated the "Complete Poems of George Seferis", the "Selected Poems of Angelos Sikelianos" and co-edited the "Selected Poems of Odysseus Elytis".