The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander. "A boon for classicists and general readers alike. For the reader who comes to tragedy for the first time, these translations are eminently 'accessible.'. . . For the classicist, these versions constitute an ambitious reinterpretation of traditional masterpieces."--"Boston Book Review" "A speakable version of Sophocles's 'Philoctetes': as it were, after 25 years, a sequel to Pound's 'The Women of Trachis'." --Hugh Kenner, "New York Times Book Review" "A two-year project to publish the corpus of classical Greek drama in translations by an impressive array of contemporary poets. It may not be long before anyone who mentions that he is reading Sophocles in Greek can expect to be told, 'Oh, but you simply "must' read it in translation.'"--"New Yorker" "Don't look for the wild and woolly--these were put together by wordsmiths. . . . But they are a far cry from some of the stodgier translations."--"Washington Post" "The 12-volume set will offer readers new verse translations of the complete surviving tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as the surviving comedies of Aristophanes and Menander. The complete line of Greek theater classics has not been offered to readers since 1938."--"Publishers Weekly"

The Air's Accomplices vividly evokes poet Brendan Galvin's love for the rugged landscapes of Cape Cod and Ireland and their elusive inhabitants. Weaving themes of death, migration, and aging into an exploration of the natural world, Galvin's work reflects a deep engagement with the places he and his family have called home, as well as with the triumphs and tragedies of human life. The collection begins by examining the vagaries of age, as Galvin ponders his role as caretaker for his wife following her stroke. It then moves into remembrances of walks on the beaches of Cape Cod, encounters with land and sea animals, and observations of the Atlantic Ocean's calm and violence. Other poems commemorate Galvin's Irish heritage and the emigration of family and friends from Donegal to the suburbs of his native Massachusetts. Whether eulogizing a deceased pet or capturing the flight of a seabird, The Air's Accomplices reveals a keen sense of observation and empathy for all living things.

For nearly five decades, award-winning poet Brendan Galvin has written about the birds of the tidal flats, woods, and marshes around his Cape Cod home and on islands in the North Atlantic. He knows their field marks, habits, and songs, and his work demonstrates an obvious fascination with them. Whirl Is King gathers forty-three of his bird poems about herons, owls, shorebirds, warblers, raptors, wrens, and other exotic visitors blown in by wind and storm.

Seen from various angles and stratagems, Galvin's migrants and locals are always in motion, acting and acted upon, sometimes predatory, sometimes possessing mythic qualities. In tones ranging from the elegiac to the hilarious, these poems inhabit the overlapping borders of human and avian life: "not to salute such / charity of song / though it be plain as / thumbsqueaks on clear windowpanes, / not to say their names, / and the shadow of death passes / across our tongues." Whirl Is King features Galvin's hallmark descriptive powers and verbal music on full display and demonstrates his talent as a contemporary poet.

A master craftsman who seamlessly combines vision and contemplation, Brendan Galvin is considered among the most powerful naturalist poets today. Habitat, Galvin's fourteenth poetry book, combines eighteen new works with lyric pieces from the past forty years -- including two book-length narratives, Wampanoag Traveler and Saints in Their Ox-Hide Boat. In a voice of quiet authority leavened with humor, Galvin intimately conveys his landscapes, birds and animals, people, and weather. By elevating the commonplace to the crucial, he takes his readers very far from the familiar.

Habitat offers an opportunity to trace a remarkable poetic career. In their richly various shapes, colors, textures, and strategies, Galvin's poems bear witness to matters both joyful and intractable.

Full of noose-around-the-neck wisecracks,
you'd have been an unwilling toiler,
envying the horse its stamina,
the hare its jagged speed over broken
fields, and bog cotton its deference to wind
on peatlands against blue mountains,
where it crowds white-headed
as ancient peasants herded off the best
grazing, enduring as if they'd do better
as plants hoarding minerals through winter,
hairy prodigals spinning existence from clouds,
from mistfall two days out of three, the odd
shoal of sun drifting across.
-- from "A Neolithic Meditation"

An endangered right whale attempting to nurse her new calf in the December ocean, foxgloves blooming in different places from year to year, or the rescue of imperiled Kemp's ridley sea turtles - the bounty and cruelty of nature infuses this latest collection of poems from Brendan Galvin, which takes as its maxim finding the extraordinary in the ordinary all around us. The poems chronicle the waxing and waning of the seasons from one winter to the next in the area around Egg Island, the dunes near a small seacoast town on the outermost reaches of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Galvin's training as a naturalist and environmental writer is evident as his practiced eye roves the waves, marshes, and forests, finding meaning and beauty in the smallest detail - bird-watching, rebuilding a woodpile, or the flight of bobwhite quail. Other poems recall the poet's affectionate memories of his deceased wife and the life they shared together, acknowledging grief without veering into the maudlin. Always present beneath the surface is the question of where humans fit into this wild, ever-changing landscape. In meditations that recall the poetry and prose of Mary Oliver or W. S. Merwin, Galvin sets off on a vivid journey sure to increase readers' appreciation for the natural world. Perhaps his most compelling message is that readers need not jet off to Everest or Kilimanjaro to experience mystery and beauty on Earth - there's wonder aplenty in our own backyards.

Partway to Geophany, the latest collection by celebrated poet Brendan Galvin, chronicles the waxing and waning of the year in a small seacoast town on Cape Cod, alongside observations of other beloved places. As a naturalist and environmentalist, Galvin undertakes poems that meditate on wildlife, landscape, and the passage of time. His verse presents powerful and immediate detailings of quotidian experience, with poems about love and loss, local people and customs, foreign and domestic travel, and writing itself. Throughout, Galvin probes the implied question, What is humanity's place in the natural world? His masterful use of the narrative lyric produces poems of great mystery and intimacy, in tones varying from grave to playful, as he reflects on the cruelties of time and the pleasures of being alive.