Other Activities and Sources (articles, critical dialogue & treatments)

Recent (2001-present)

FILM

  • "To an army wife in Sardis" from Sappho: A New Translation. The Reader. Babelsburg Film. December 2008.

ELECTRONIC

  • Nine Poems from Mary Barnard's Collected Poems. The Poetry Foundation. Archive of Online Poetry. December 2005. Contents: "Playroom," "Shoreline," "Encounter in Buffalo," "Remarks on Poetry and the Physical World," " Fable of the Ant and the Word," "Height is the Distance Down," "Crossroads," "Fawn," and "Ondine."
  • Two poems from Sappho: A New Translation. World Masterpieces, Grade 12. Pearson Prentice Hall Education, Inc. Electronic. Contents: "He is more than a hero" and "You know the place: then." 2006.
  • Seven poems from Sappho: A New Translation. Elements of Literature: World Literature. Ed. Kylene Beers. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2006. Also @2007, Power Notes, World Literature. CD-ROM Holt, Rinehard, and Winston. Contents "You may forget but," "Tonight I've watched," "He is more than a hero," "Don't ask me what to wear," "You are the herdsman of evening," "Sleep, darling," "We drink your health".
  • Two poems from Sappho: A New Translation. The Language of Literature, eEdition Plus Online, World Literature. McDougal Little, a division of Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008. Contents: "To an army wife in Sardis" and "He is more than a hero."
  • September 5, 2011 Lapham’s Quarterly, NY. Print and electronic. Excerpts (pp. 60 and 100) from Mary Barnard’s Sappho: A New Translation. March 18, 2013.
  • Poetry Foundation’s online poetry archive.

MUSIC

  • "Thank you, my dear." One Blazing Glance. Song cycle for soprano, flute, viola, harp, and marimba. Live performance. Pre-Premier March 30, 2007 at Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA; Premier November 13, 2007 at Simmons College. Benefit for "Our Bodies Ourselves." Beth Denish, composer, 2007

 

Bibliography up to 2001

Click to jump to each catagory:

Articles by Mary Barnard
Newspaper Articles about Mary Barnard
Television and Radio programs about Mary Barnard
Musical Settings
Miscellaneous

 

Articles by and about Mary Barnard

  • “A Communication on Greek Metric, Ezra Pound, and Sappho.” Paideuma
    23.1 (Spring 1994):147-152.
  • “Further Notes on Metric.” Paideuma 23 No.1 (Spring 1994), 153-157.
  • “Writing a Creative Thesis in ‘The Golden Age:’ Excerpts from Mary Barnard’s Erato Agonistes.” Reed Magazine Aug. (1999):6-7Biographical Sketches and Articles about Mary Barnard in Periodicals and Journals
  • Raffel, Burton. “Mary Barnard’s Sappho.” Hudson Review 18 (Summer
    1965): 2
  • Review of The Mythmakers, The New Yorker Magazine, 15 April, 1967.
  • Roberts, Lana. “Mary Barnard: A Profile.” Prism, the OSU Magazine. (Winter 1976). Photos by J.W. Ellis.
  • Helle, Anita. “The Odysseys of Mary Barnard.” Northwest Review XVII (1979-80): 2-3. (Similar to article in Encore Magazine 2-3, (1978)
  • Helle, Anita. “The Odyssey of Mary Barnard”. Encore: Magazine of the Arts 2-3 (1978).
    Reprinted in An Anthology of Northwest Writing.
  • Van Cleve, Jane. “A Personal View of Mary Barnard.” Northwest Review XVIII.3 (1980): 105-113.
  • “Mary Barnard and Breitenbush Publications Share Elliston Award.” Coda: Poets and Writers Newsletter 7.5 (June - July 1980).Cheney, Lynne V. “Humanities After School.” Humanities 9.1 (Jan-Feb 1988).
  • Hardt. “An Interview with Four Poets.” Oregon English XI.2B ( Fall 1989): pp 69-79.
  • Warren, J. S. “Mary Barnard – Poetry.”. Northwest Originals: Washington
  • Women and Their Art. Portland, OR: MatriMedia (1990). photo By Mary Randlett.
  • Dougher, Sarah. “Figments to Fragments: Modern Translation and ‘Completion’ of Sappho’s Poetry.” Passages: A Journal of Criticism1 (Winter 1991).
  • Bush, Casey. “Mary Barnard and the Food of the Gods.” Rain City Review I.2 (Spring 1993): 19-25. Portland, OR: Quiet Lion Press
  • Stewart, Linda Leonard. “Honors Come into the Quiet Life of Mary Barnard, ’32.” Reed Nov. (1994).
  • Sheehy, John. “Afternoons with the Muse.” Reed August (1999): 2-5.
  • Englert, Walter. “The Words She Commands: Translating Sappho from the Heart.” Reed August (1999): 8-11.
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Selected Newspaper Articles

  • Van Cleeve, Jane. “The Poet in Our Midst.” Sunday Oregonian 3 Sept. 1967, sec. Northwest Magazine.
  • Modie, Judi. “Author Talks About Her Book.” Columbian [Vancouver, WA] 3 May1967. Photo by Steve Small.
  • “First An Orgy, Then A Myth.” Columbian [Vancouver, WA] 3 May 1967. Helle, Anita. “Mary Barnard: The poetry of precision.” Fresh Weekly [Portland, OR] Week ending 8 Aug. 1977. Includes poem “Cool Country.”
  • Van Cleeve, Jane. “Hearing Sappho.” Willamette Week 16-22 Oct., 1979. sec Profile. Photo by Cathy Cheney.
  • Hoffman, Eva. Books of the Times. Review of Assault on Mt. Helicon: A Literary Memoir. New York Times 3 May, 1984.
  • Cowley, Malcolm. “A Peaceable Poet.” Review of Assault on Mt.Helicon: A Literary Memoir.” New York Times Book Review 6 May, 1984.
  • Dupuis, Kelly. “A Mary B. Who Really Hung in There.” Review of Assault on Mt. Helicon: A Literary Memoir. San Francisco Chronicle-Examiner 26 Aug. 1984.
  • James, Sally. “Poet Captures Area in Verse.” Columbian [Vancouver, WA] 5 Sept. 1984, sec D. Includes two poems: “The Gorge,” and “Provenicial.”
  • Chamish, Elizabeth. “Reminiscences of a prodigious literary generation.” Review of Assault on Mt. Helicon: A Literary Memoir. Christian Science Monitor, 6 Sept. 1984.
  • Marx, Douglas. “The Life and Times of Mary Barnard.” Willamette Week [Portland, OR] 24 –30 April 1986.
  • Sechrist, Steve. “Of Poetry and old pros.” Columbian [Vancouver, WA] 5 Nov. 1986, sec. Mid Week: 1+. Color photos.
  • Jewett, Dave. “Local poet’s new work gets praise.” Columbian [Vancouver, WA] 8 Jan. 1987.“Limericks of Love.” Columbian 10 Feb.1991.
  • “Even respected poet has favorite silly rhyme.” Columbian [Vancouver, WA] 10 Feb. 1991. Original limerick by M.B.
  • Pintarich, Paul. “Poet in the Twilight.” Oregonian [Portland] 31 July 1994, sec. E 1. Includes “Logging Trestle.”
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Television and Radio

  • “Profile of a Poet.” Mini-documentary: Produced by Lisa Smith and broadcast several times on KCTS-TV in Seattle. Fall 1986. (from a 5-hour interview at Mary’s apartment.)
  • Interview conducted by Tom Vitala on National Public Radio “Morning Edition” 10/7/86.
  • Interview about Sappho with Ray Suarez on National Public Radio. “Book Club of the Air.” April 1999 (In honor of National Poetry Month).
  • ABC Resources, Sydney, Australia. Sappho Fragment 114 and Sappho Fragment 132 for program entitled “Poetica: Searching for Sappho” on Radio National on 30 May 2013.
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Miscellaneous
1994

  • “A Communication of Greek, Metric, Ezra Pound, and Sappho.” Paideuma 23.1. (Spring 1994): 147-152.
  • “Further Notes on Metric.” Paideuma 23.1 (Spring 1994): 153-157.
  • “Writing a Creative Thesis in ‘The Golden Age:’ Excerpts from Mary Barnard’s Erato Agonistes.” Reed Magazine. Aug. (1999): 6-7.

1987

  • Soft Chains. Streetfare Journal. Bus Poster. N.d.
    Note: Reprinted from Collected Poems.

1985

  • Song for the New Year. Buffalo, N.Y.: The University Libraries. State University of New York at Buffalo, 1985.
  • Number seven of the second series of Christmas Broadsides. With decoration by Anita Bigelow. Edition of two thousand of which the first fifty were numbered and signed by the poet and the artist.

1975

  • Later. Four Postcards. Portland, OR: The Prescott Street Press, 1975. With woodcuts by Charles Bigelow. Note: Reprinted from Odysseus (1972).
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Musical Settings
There have been a number of musical settings of the Sappho translations, but so far as we know only on has been published or commercially recorded. David Ward-Steinman’s “Fragments from Sappho” was issued first as an LP record in 1969 and later on tape. Both versions were issued by Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI 238 SD). The six fragments were scored for soprano solo, flute, clarinet and piano. Phyllis Curtin was the soloist in the recording.

Original lyrics that have been set to music:

  • “Lai” as a baritone solo with piano accompaniment, by the late Edwin Gershefski.
  • “Journey” as a cantata for mezzo soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra (Opus 127), by Toman Svoboda.
  • “The Pleiades” for orchestra, mixed chorus, solo soprano, tenor and baritone by Tibor Serly.
    These three settings have all been publicly performed, but so far as I know none has been published or commercially recorded.
  • Inanna in the Underworld. Performed by the Tears Of Joy Puppet Theatre under the direction of Reg Bradley. Text by Mary Barnard. Music by Allen Gates. October 16, 1979, Columbia Arts Center in Vancouver, WA.
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