Having read several translations of Sappho's poetry, Powell's version falls short. Much of the original poetry has been destroyed or is in very poor condition, leaving us with only fragments. In _Sappho: a Garland_ the fragments are run together with a gap or space indicating where one fragment ends and another begins. This leads one to believe that Sappho's work was one long, continuous poem that has been destoryed in places, while others remain in tact. This is not the case, and is one reason why I am not a fan of this collection.

I also didn't care for the translation itself when compared to the works of others. To be fair, I do not read Greek, my impression is soley based on my sense of the poetry here compared with others. With this in mind, Powell seems to be more technically focused on the work rather than on capturing the "spirit" of each poem - the essence or emotion Sappho was attempting to communicate to her audience and the true measure of a poem in my opinion. The result is a somewhat mechanical feel to the work that simply doesn't do Sappho the justice she deserves.

On its own, Powell's translation has its merits, and I did enjoy his discussion of what is known of Sappho and his afterwords on the translation itself. To be honest I much preferred (and would recommend) Anne Carson's collection over this.