SOURCE: "The Elegy," "The Epic," and "The Epigram," in Hellenistic Poetry, translated by Jacob Hammer and Moses Hadas, Columbia University Press, 1929, pp. 94-150, 150-257, 350-406.

The following excerpt, drawn from his Hellenistic Poetry, presents Körte's summation of Callimachus as a writer of elegy, epic, and epigram. Examining Callimachus' work largely in the context of his biography and the social and political environment in Alexandria, Korte finds certain qualities constant in Callimachus across the genres. Korte emphasizes especially the poet's aptitude for originality and novelty, remarking that "precisely what was obscure, untouched and neglected had the greatest attraction for Callimachus." The excerpt also includes extended quotations in translation.

The Elegy

Callimachus is the most significant and the most fascinating personality among the Alexandrian poets. He therefore deserves a detailed treatment.

Of his life we know, unfortunately, very little. He was born not much before 330 in the old Graeco-African...