A selection of secular and religious love poetry written by royal scribes of Ancient Egypt 3,500 to 4,500 years ago and translated by several generations of modern Egyptologists, including Richard Faulkner, Miriam Lichtheim and others. Edited and metrically rendered for singing and dancing by playwright-songwriter Gilbert Moore, PhD, Princeton

Available once more, this is a comprehensive, comparative literary philological examination of two enduring bodies of love poetry from the ancient Near East.

Ancient Egyptian Love Songs - with Commentary is a collection of love poems complete with hieroglyphic text, transliteration and translation. Each love song is accompanied with a commentary which explains the ancient Egyptian poetic expressions by the original scribe.

This is the first comprehensive anthology in English of ancient Egyptian lyric poetry.

Selections include poetry from pyramid texts, morning hymns, instructions in wisdom, meditations, exhortations to schoolboys, love songs, poems to the king, and more. Also included are an outline of Egyptian history, an introduction to Egyptian literature, and extensive footnotes and commentary on the material presented.

Ancient Egypt is often thought of as a gloomy society obsessed with death. But a collection of papyri, dating to the latter half of the New Kingdom (ca. 1305-1080 B.C.), presents us with delicate love lyrics that dispel any such illusion. These vibrant love poems, purported to be by boys and girls perhaps as young as thirteen or fourteen years of age, are remarkable for their innocent sensuousness. Combining her notable skills as a translator and a poet, Barbara Fowler provides the first accurate translation of these love lyrics into modern English-language poetry. Her renderings are both elegant and correct. They preserve the charm of a long-lost civilization, while making it possible for readers to appreciate one aspect of that culture in our time and through our language. Originally published in 1994. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Originally published in 1927, this text contains a translation of Adolf Erman’s work into English. Erman’s original intention was to bring the songs, stories and poems that have survived from ancient Egypt to the masses of the modern world. The literature of the Egyptian world provides a real insight into the day-to-day life of one of the oldest societies known to man and this translation ensures that these insights are afforded to an English audience. This title will be of interest to students of History, Classics and Literature.

'Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away. But writings make him remembered' In ancient Egypt, words had magical power. Inscribed on tombs and temple walls, coffins and statues, or inked onto papyri, hieroglyphs give us a unique insight into the life of the Egyptian mind. Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson has freshly translated a rich and diverse range of ancient Egyptian writings into modern English, including tales of shipwreck and wonder, obelisk inscriptions, mortuary spells, funeral hymns, songs, satires and advice on life from a pharaoh to his son. Spanning over two millennia, this is the essential guide to a complex, sophisticated culture. Translated with an Introduction by Toby Wilkinson

From the ancient Egyptian inventors of the love lyric to contemporary poets, Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Love Poetry gathers together both written and sung love poetry from Africa. This anthology is a work of literary archaeology that lays bare a genre of African poetry that has been overshadowed by political poetry. Frank Chipasula has assembled a historically and geographically comprehensive wealth of African love poetry that spans more than three thousand years. By collecting a continent’s celebrations and explorations of the nature of love, he expands African literature into the sublime territory of the heart. Bending the Bow traces the development of African love poetry from antiquity to modernity while establishing a cross-millennial dialogue. The anonymously written love poems fromPharaonic Egypt that open the anthology both predate Biblical love poetry and reveal the longevity of written love poetry in Africa. The middle section is devoted to sung love poetry from all regions of the continent. These great works serve as the foundation for modern poetry and testify to love poetry’s omnipresence in Africa. The final section, showcasing forty-eight modern African poets, celebrates the genre’s continuing vitality. Among those represented are Muyaka bin Hajji and Shaaban Robert,two major Swahili poets; Gabriel Okara, the innovative though underrated Nigerian poet; Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of Senegal and a founder of the Negritude Movement in francophone African literature; Rashidah Ismaili from Benin; Flavien Ranaivo from Madagascar; and Gabeba Baderoon from South Africa. Ranging from the subtly suggestive to the openly erotic, this collection highlights love’s endurance in a world too often riven by contention. Bending the Bow bears testimony to poetry’s role as conciliator while opening up a new area of study for scholars and students.