“Do not move stones”
In Carson’s translation of Sappho, the only remaining legible section from Fragment 108 is that which is translated here. The phrase exists in a vacuum with no context and nothing to lend it any solidly constructed meaning. Nevertheless, it has universally been interpreted on a metaphorical level. Carson chooses to strip it down to an essential meaning in contrast to some other existing translations which include advice to not “stir the trash,” or “disturb the sand” or “prod the rubble on the beach.”
Helen of Metaphor
The Chorus in the play Agamemnon starts riffing on Helen—she of Troy whose beauty caused a war or so they say—and doesn’t take long to really kick it into gear. Carson’s translation strips away the veneer of polite poetry and allows for no ambiguity on the subject of dear Helen. The word choice also allows the Chorus to begin the critique with an allusion to central metaphor regarding her face as that which launched a thousand ships:
“the woman is hell to ships, hell to men, hell to cities.”
The Fall of Troy
In Hekabe, the Chorus announces that fall of Troy in metaphorical language rich in the irony as the fate of the women in the hands of the victors is the same as the fate of the city:
“Such a cloud of Greeks covers you,
rapes you, spear by spear.”
The Chorus Tells a Riddle
In Carson’s translation of Antigone, the Chorus poses a riddle. It is an example of what makes reading her translations of plays with which one might already be familiar worthwhile. Translation isn’t a craft that can be perfected, after all; it is just as surely an art as the original composition. And, like all art, some may love it while others hate it, but there is no denying it says something.
“How is a Greek chorus like a lawyer
They’re both in the business of searching for a precedent
Finding an analogy
Locating a prior example”
The Chorus Takes an Attitude
Agamemnon has just returned home after being away fighting the Trojan War for ten years. The Chorus is pondering the proper way to address the returning king and during this cognitive processing reveals a layer of snark in its metaphorical construction of commentary:
“Now I have to admit when you sent an army
after Helen
I wrote you off as a loose cannon.”
