Poetry

The Homeric Hymns: A Short Report

The Homeric Hymns are neither Homeric nor hymns in the way I expected. A look at the meaning of each term should provide a sufficient summary of their origin and content. First we will analyze the term hymn. Though these are not the uniformly organized religious songs that someone from …

Living in Eternity

Now we must leave behind what has been said explicitly about life's brevity by the lyric poets. The terrain traversed was existentially difficult, though likely not unfamiliar to the reader. It would be unfair to leave such a morbid impression of the Greeks. We might be mistaken that they were …

What of a Moment?

In this way the focus moves from outlasting existence with immortal acts and words, to the poets who embrace the passing moment. This seems like a rather quaint notion. Yet, while it does produce profound pieces, it also gives us some of the most childishly hedonistic poems of the anthology. …

Deeds that Outlast the Doer

While words may preserve memory, this still leaves the issue of what actions warrant remembrance. It is not just any ordinary life that inspires the bards to song. Here the lyric poets seem to provide two answers: valiance in war and victory in the arena. Simonides argues that eternal reverence …

Immortal Words

The first resolution to life's brevity that we will explore from the poets is, unsurprisingly, the immortal power of words. We will look at two similar excerpts and then discuss the continuity of their contents. The first is Theognis discussing his preservation of the name of Kyrnos in poems. The …

Odysseus in Paradise

Yet, is youth truly priceless? Greek myth suggests not. Again we can consult Homer to help along our understanding, this time the Odyssey. After being shipwrecked on an isolated island, Odysseus attracts the eye of the beautiful and powerful nymph Calypso. She takes him in as her "husband" in a …

The Death of Youth

The passage of time takes on new significance with death being set squarely as an ending and not a gateway into an afterlife. Notably old age becomes a signpost of the end. Anacreon reflects, rather personally, on this in his Fragment 395. He comments on his gray temples, white hair, …

The Brevity of Life

"Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away." (The Iliad, Book …

The Trouble with Reviewing an Anthology

Writing a cohesive report on an anthology is difficult. While these collections typically feature a group of works linked either by a common tongue, culture, or era, the fact remains that each author is an entity unto themselves. Therefore, a commentary runs the risk of either saying too much or …