Great Regulars: By David Ferry

What am I doing inside this old man's body?

from PBS: Newshour: Weekly Poem: 'Soul'

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[David] Ferry is well known for his work as a translator. He's done acclaimed versions of the Babylonian epic "Gilgamesh" and Latin texts by Horace and Virgil. Lines from those works often appear in his own verse. In "Bewilderment," for example, he translates a passage from "The Aeneid" about ferrying people to the underworld. It is followed by his own poem, "That Now Are Wild and Do Not Remember," which deals with the death of his wife Anne.

Ferry is clearly a man obsessed with connections and links to classic literature. One reviewer called Ferry "a special kind of thief" for the way he borrows from ancient works.

from PBS: Newshour: Poet David Ferry: 'A Special Kind of Thief'

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