SOURCE: A review of Selected Poems, in Parnassus, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1988, pp. 324-39.

[In the following excerpt, Wood argues that several contemporary British translations of Greek classics, including Harrison's Oresteia, “are claims, made through language, that Britain has history again, and that its troubles and divisions can be compared to those of other countries and ages.”]

“What's Hecuba to them?” we might ask, thinking of contemporary British poets translating the Greeks; of Irish and Yorkshire idioms attaching themselves to classical names and places. But the question doesn't have to be dismissive or sure of its answer. Tony Harrison's Oresteia （1981）, Tom Paulin's version of Antigone, called The Riot Act （1985）, are not simply old plays in modern linguistic dress; they are claims, made through language, that Britain has history again, that its troubles and divisions can be compared to those of other countries and ages.

Haven't we always had history? Of...