Writers should go for a subject they can manage
And give some thought to the sort of strain they can bear.
We all have limits. If the choice of subject is right,
The words will come of themselves, in a lucid order
-- And order is a matter of strength and pleasure.
A word is pleasant and strong when it comes where it should,
Which means not coming at all unless it must
And the sort of affection that knows when it isn't wanted.

from a version of Horace's Ars Poetica

'C.H.Sisson is one of the great translators of our time,' Jasper Griffin wrote in The Times Literary Supplement. 'Latin, French, German, Italian: there can have been few writers who have published translations of Virgil, Racine, Heine and Dante, in addition writing their own poetry.'
    
In this volume the bulk of Sisson's poetic translations is included. A writer 'worth a place on the short shelf reserved for the finest twentieth-century poets' (The Times), Sisson occupies a unique place in English letters: his clear-eyed political and literary appraisals inspire writers and readers in a variety of disciplines.
    
His translations are integral to his own poetry, often providing a bridge into new areas of activity. His Heine, Virgil, Lucretius and Dante are keys to his development, and major translations in their own right. The work included here, drawn from two millennia and several languages, is testimony of his open-eared endeavour over six decades.