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Comment 5 of 5, added on May 30th, 2006 at 8:48 AM.
I personnally think tha t the barbarians here would signify the other as entity rather than the Romans, the Africans or what-so-ever. The other that we always need to identitfy ourselves. This is why perhaps that the barbarians do not arrive at the end of the poem. It is important noethe less to say that the political institutions and the ones who sustain them are dependent on the 'existence', at laest in the imaginary of the community, of those others to establish their cohesion, authority and sense of being united. Because to be united is mainly to be againt someone else. So for me the barbarians is tha t entity that any society holds to be its opposite so that to set itself as 'one'. While i truth no society is one,but instead it is always and ever many, heterogene and diverse.
koussaila from France
Comment 4 of 5, added on November 4th, 2005 at 5:05 AM.
Dear Alienor,
The barbarians is always the OTHER, in contrast to whom we form our identity
Elaine from Greece
Comment 3 of 5, added on October 9th, 2005 at 5:03 PM.
I have been trying to conclude who the barbarians could be in this poem. The could be the Goths, the Gauls, the Celts,the Romans or maybe even Alexander the Great's army from the point of view of the provinces that he conquered. I would greatly appreciate your feedback.
Thanking you in advance,
Aliénor L-C
Aliénor Lemieux-Cumberlege from Canada
Comment 2 of 5, added on February 10th, 2005 at 9:33 PM.
I would have to disagree with the analysis of Mr Hodge. Cavafy had no intention to criticise the leaders or the leadership of his time. The meaning of the poem can be better understood if one takes into account the time that was written (in January 1899, just six months after the poem Monotony). The major question is here again the same insufferable boredom that always hunted the poet (he was after all a civil servant in the same office for 33 years!). The Romans depict the kind of people that after a triumphal course of centuries, reaching the peak of their power, civilisation and knowledge, suffer from the same old routine of repeating the same life, a life without anything new or exciting. And it is this kind of people that are drawn towards anything extreme that could bring a change in their lives, provide some spice and kill this intolerable boredom. This extreme in the poem is of course the barbarians, those who reaching Rome, will bring a violent and sudden change. They will simplify the lives of the Romans, and for this change the Romans are happy to fully relinquish their national pride and their sense of selfcontrol. This poem is certainly one of the most symbolic of all the poems written in the Greek language ever, and certainly one of the finest of Cavafy.
Nick Zafeiropoulos from Germany
Comment 1 of 5, added on December 19th, 2004 at 4:59 PM.
One of the best works by the "poet of the city" (Lawrence Durrell). Haunting and prophetic. And, despite when it was written, a metaphor for our (modern) times. How often have political leaders cautioned about the need to be prepared to meet a threat, articulated but so often not specified. The threat draws the people together, whatever they think of the leadership. Without the threat, what will the people do. And what will happen to the leadership?
James Hodge from United Kingdom
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I personnally think tha t the barbarians here would signify the other as entity rather than the Romans, the Africans or what-so-ever. The other that we always need to identitfy ourselves. This is why perhaps that the barbarians do not arrive at the end of the poem. It is important noethe less to say that the political institutions and the ones who sustain them are dependent on the 'existence', at laest in the imaginary of the community, of those others to establish their cohesion, authority and sense of being united. Because to be united is mainly to be againt someone else. So for me the barbarians is tha t entity that any society holds to be its opposite so that to set itself as 'one'. While i truth no society is one,but instead it is always and ever many, heterogene and diverse.
koussaila from France