Description

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One of the greatest poems of the classical world

Virgil's Georgics is a glorious celebration of the eternal beauty of the natural world, now brought vividly to life in a powerful new translation.  "Georgic" means "to work the earth," and this poetic guide to country living combines practical wisdom on tending the land with exuberant fantasy and eulogies to the rhythms of nature. It describes hills strewn with wild berries in 'vine-spread autumn'; recommends watching the stars to determine the right time to plant seeds; and gives guidance on making wine and keeping bees. Yet the Georgics also tells of angry gods, bloody battles and a natural world fraught with danger from storms, pests and plagues. Expansive in its scope, lush in its language, this extraordinary work is at once a reflection on the cycles of life, death and rebirth, an argument for the nobility of labour and an impassioned reflection on the Roman Empire of Virgil's times. Kimberly Johnson's lyrical verse translation captures all the rich beauty and abundant imagery of the original, re-creating this ancient masterpiece for our times.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About the Author

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Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 B.C.), known as Virgil, was born near Mantua in the last days of the Roman Republic. In his comparatively short life he became the supreme poet of his age, whose Aeneid gave the Romans a great national epic equal to the Greeks’, celebrating their city’s origins and the creation of their empire. Virgil is also credited  with authoring two other major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues and the Georgics. 

Kimberly Johnson is a poet and a scholar of Renaissance literature. She is the author of two collections of poetry and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. Her poems, essays and translations have appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker.

Cy Twombly is a well-known American artist, whose paintings are both graffiti-like and beautifully subtle. He lives in Lexington, Virginia, and Italy.