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Biography
American

Rolfe Humphries

1894 — 1969

American poet, translator, and teacher whose verse translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1955) and Virgil's Aeneid (1951) were standard classroom texts for decades and introduced generations of American students to Latin literature. Humphries was also a respected poet in his own right, publishing several collections, and was involved in leftist political causes during the 1930s and 1940s.

Past sales0
PeriodModernist
NationalityAmerican
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Rolfe Humphries (1894–1969) was an American poet and classical translator who taught Latin and creative writing at Amherst College and other institutions. He is best remembered for his verse translations of Latin poetry, which combined scholarly accuracy with readable, vigorous English verse.

Major Works

The Metamorphoses of Ovid (1955, Indiana University Press) — his verse translation of Ovid’s epic poem of transformation was a standard text in American colleges for decades and remains in print. It brought Ovid’s stories — Daphne and Apollo, Narcissus, Orpheus and Eurydice — to millions of English-language readers.

The Aeneid of Virgil (1951, Scribner’s) — his earlier verse translation of Virgil’s national epic of Rome.

Humphries also published several collections of his own poetry and was active in leftist literary circles in the 1930s and 1940s.

Collecting Humphries

First editions of the Metamorphoses (1955, Indiana University Press) and the Aeneid (1951, Scribner’s) are modestly priced at $20–$60. His original poetry collections are scarcer. Humphries is collected by classicists and historians of American literary translation.