chapter 5: lyric poetry chapter 5: lyric poetry the lyric age after homer’s day, the greek world...
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Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Lyric Age
• after Homer’s day, the Greek world started to change dramatically
• with the fall of the Phoenicians to the Assyrian onslaught in the eighth century BCE, sea routes were opened all around the eastern Mediterranean basin
• Greeks became traders and money began pouring into Greece
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Lyric Age
• but keeping track of one’s wealth requires some knowledge of accounting
• and accounting requires writing!• so this new class of wealthy pre-
classical Greeks had to learn how to write
• starting around 700 BCE, literacy in Greece began to climb
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Lyric Age
• these noveaux riches (“the newly wealthy”) were not always members of the established, traditional aristocracy
• many were bright young men who came from humble origins
• these merchants did not necessarily have a deep investment in the “heroic past”
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Lyric Age
• in fact, most of them would just as soon not have talked about their ancestors
• most of these people lived for now, not in some mythological past
• as a result, these adventurous entrepeneurs wanted a type of poetry closer to their own experiences in life
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Lyric Age
• that meant verses which were fast and intense, and immediately rewarding
• thus, during the Lyric Age an evening’s entertainment turned from the recitation of one long, stately poem by an oral bard like Homer
• to the performance of many short, emotional poems by a lyric poet
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Lyric Age
• and the topic of this lyric poetry was almost invariably love
• or if not love, the need for immediate political change
• cf. the evolution in music of the modern age from operas (a century or more ago) to rock music today
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Nature of Lyric Poetry
• lyric poetry is very different from Homeric epic, even just on the surface
• lyric poems were composed in many different poetic meters (rhythms)
• Homer used only one type of verse ever
• after all, how many different verse forms can an oral poet (who works in oral formulas) be expected to master?
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Nature of Lyric Poetry
• literacy was an important element in this equation
• writing allowed for greater poetic flexibility
• if nothing else, poets could now erase and re-compose a line
• erasing a word or correcting a line was something an oral poet like Homer could never have done
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Nature of Lyric Poetry
• moreover, a lyric poet could send a poem off in written form to be read by someone else in performance
• Homer could not ever have done that either
• thus, lyric poetry could spread wherever there was a literate performer available
• lyric poetry reached a much wider audience than oral poetry like Homer’s
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Nature of Lyric Poetry
• still, lyric poetry was designed to be sung and heard in public, not read in private
• most lyric poems were designed to be read aloud at parties (or political rallies)
• to the accompaniment of the lyre (a stringed musical instrument)
• hence, the name “lyric”
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryStatuette of a Poet Statuette of a Poet Playing the LyrePlaying the Lyre
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Nature of Lyric Poetry
• the lyre is the ancient equivalent of the guitar today
• it was associated with intense emotion, and often extreme behavior
• several stories survive from antiquity of lyric poets who performed drunk
• and lived in non-traditional lifestyles
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric Poetry
A Greek Vase A Greek Vase Depicting a Lyric Poet Depicting a Lyric Poet
in the Rapture of in the Rapture of Performance Performance
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Nature of Lyric Poetry
• Greek lyric poetry was much centered on the music behind the verse
• too bad, then, that all the music of lyric poetry has been lost
• nevertheless, the verse is gloriously beautiful all on its own
• but it only hints at the true power of this genre in its day
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySappho
• the best exponent of lyric poetry was a woman named Sappho
• her poetry represents one of the very few woman’s voices to emerge from all of Greek and Roman antiquity
• the power and beauty of her poetic voice was great enough to overcome the ancient world’s deep-seated misogyny
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric Poetry
A Greek Vase A Greek Vase depicting the Lyric depicting the Lyric Poets Sappho and Poets Sappho and
AlcaeusAlcaeus
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySappho
• she lived on the Greek island of Lesbos, ca. 600 BCE
• little is known about her, except that she ran a sort of finishing schools for girls
• she wrote love poems to the girls there
• hence, our word “lesbian”
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySappho
• in large part because of her sexuality, later ages denounced her poetry as “immoral”
• even though her surviving poems never include sexually graphic or lurid passages
• unlike many other ancient authors who include explicit passages but whose work has survived
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySappho
• nevertheless, her work was censured and not copied or preserved the way other authors’ works were
• the result was that most of her work was lost
• what little we have today comes for the most part from quotes of her poetry found in the work of other authors
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySappho
• some poems, however, have been preserved on ancient papyri
• these are often only fragments• it is possible that today we do not
have even one complete poem by Sappho!
• all in all, the loss of Sappho’s poetry is one of the greatest literary catastrophes of all time
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySappho
• moreover, to focus on Sappho’s sexual orientation is to miss the point of her poetry
• her songs almost invariably center around the intensity of feeling inspired by the objects of Sappho’s affection
• that is, Sappho writes honestly and elegantly about herself, e.g. what loves does to her
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
He seems to me, that man, almost a god—
the man, who is face to face with you,sitting close enough to you to hearyour sweet whisperingAnd your laughter, glistening, whichthe heart in my breast beats for.For when on you I glance, I do not,not one sound, emit.
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
But my tongue snaps, lightly
runs beneath my flesh a flame,and from my eyes no light, and rumblingcomes into my ears,And my skin grows damp, and tremblingall over racks me, and greener than the
grassam I, and one step short of dyingI seem to myself.
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• note that Poem 31 does not focus on the girl
• the girl is not even named• nor is she mentioned much in the
poem• indeed, the poem focuses more on
the man who is sitting beside the girl
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• but the poem really dwells on Sappho and her reaction to her feelings for this girl
• Poem 31 was, in fact, preserved among the writings of an ancient doctor who quoted it as a way of diagnosing love sickness
• in modern terms, then, Poem 31 is a “clinical pathology” of love
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• the poem was, in fact, preserved among the writings of an ancient doctor who quoted it when he was trying to diagnose love sickness in a patient of his
• in modern terms, Poem 31 is a “clinical pathology” of love
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• seen as a medical condition then, Sappho claims that love makes her:– dumb (“my tongue snaps”)– feverish (“lightly runs beneath my flesh a
flame”)– blind (“and from my eyes no light”) – deaf (“and rumbling comes into my ears”)
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• love makes Sappho: – sweaty (“And my skin grows damp”) – twitchy (“and trembling all over racks
me”)– pale (“and greener than the grass am I”)– and catatonic (“and one step short of
dying I seem to myself”)
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• thus, Poem 31 is not a poem about a girl• or even a girl flirting with someone else to
make Sappho jealous• it is a poem about love and separation,
and what they do to a person physiologically
• which hints that there is much more to the situation than the words on the surface
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 31
• after all, if Sappho is looking at the man, and the man is facing the girl (“who is face to face with you”), then who is the girl looking at?
• Sappho? • if so, does she have feelings for
Sappho?• but she’s not the point -- Love is!
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 1
On a dappled throne, deathless goddess, Aphrodite,
Zeus’ child, charmer, I beg of you:break me not with aching, nor with grief, Lady, tame my heart! But come here, if ever before from over therewhen you heard my voice from afaryou listened and left your father’s homeof gold and you came
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 1
Hitching up your chariot. Lovely they that lead youthe swift sparrows above the darkling earthwings whirling countless from heavensent amidst us here, And in a flash appear and you, blessed
goddess,the smiling face that never dies,asked me what was wrong this time and whythis time I called her
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 1
And what most of all my heart wished to have
in my troubled way. “Who is it this time I’m to turn back to your favor? Who hurtsyou now, Sappho dear?You know, if she runs, soon she will chase;and if she spurns presents, some day she’ll
give them; and if she rejects love, soon she will love, like it or not.” So,
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 1
Come to me even now, and from my hardships free me
and from my cares, and all the things to bring about
my heart desires, bring about for me. And you,
fight here beside me.
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetrySapphoPoem 1
• to the ancient Greeks, one of the strongest forces in the universe was Eros (“love”)
• in Poem 1 (The Ode to Aphrodite), Sappho invokes Aphrodite, the goddess of Eros
• note her comic, sophisticated self-deprecation: “Who is it this time . . ., Sappho dear?”
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
• lyric poetry seems very different from epic
• but lyric poetry is not a complete break from the epic poetry which preceded it
• Sappho acknowledges her Homeric ancestry in various ways
• even sometimes at the same time she is debunking epic verse
• cf. Poem 16 (The Ode to Anactoria)
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 16
One man has his cavalry, another has his legions, yet another has his ships, on all the earthmost beautiful to him. But to me it is thesingle thing one loves.
How easy it is to make this understoodto anyone, for, far outstripping mortalloveliness, Helen left her man—and a good man too!—
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 16
Left him and went off to Troy, sailingaway with no thought for her child or
parents,not one glance back, but he led her astray,Love did, at first sight.
The eyes of brides are easy to turn, light things,lightly swayed by passion—which makesme think now of Anactoria,who isn’t here now.
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 16
I would rather see her lovely stepand her twinkling bright facethan Lydians process in pomp andsoldiers’ pageantry.
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 16
One man has his cavalry, another has his legions, yet another has his ships, on all the earthmost beautiful to him. But to me it is thesingle thing one loves.
• while Sappho openly denounces Homeric values, such as “soldiers’ pageantry”
• and insists instead that love controls our lives
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 16
• but Sappho also borrows much from Homer
• e.g., Sappho composes Poem 16 in ring composition, but on a much smaller scale than Homer
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 16
• also note the way she make comparisons:
How easy it is to make this understoodto anyone, for, far outstripping mortalloveliness, Helen left her man—
• cf. Homeric similes• Helen’s passion is a “simile” for the
power of Eros in Sappho’s word
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
• but one major difference between Homer and Sappho stands out
• while he looks back in time across the sea, she looks at the world around her
• while Homer talks about Aphrodite on some distant mountain centuries ago, Sappho calls Aphrodite to her, cf. Poem 2
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 2
Here to me from Crete to this temple herethis shrine, where you have this graceful
groveof apples, and the fragrant altars fume with frankincense.In here the cold water bubbles through
branchesof apples, and with roses everything’sshaded, and glistening in the wind the leavesrain down gentle sleep.
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryLyric Poetry and Epic
Sappho, Poem 2
In here the meadow horses graze flourishesin spring with flowers, and the windssoothing breathe . . . <several words are
lost>
To there, you . . . lift, Aphrodite, in golden goblets lightly what’s mixed with our delights, the nectarlike the wine, come pour!
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Significance of Lyric Poetry
• Homer takes the listener into a past and distant world of the gods and heroes
• Sappho, instead, brings the gods to us and glorifies what happens in our world
• she gives our daily struggles an “epic” grandeur and a heroic sensibility
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Significance of Lyric Poetry
• that is, our lives here and now stand in the foreground of Sappho’s poetry
• and Homer’s gods and heroes serve mainly to give our lives dimension and depth
• in Sappho’s world view, we are what is important, not some mythical figures
• Aphrodite’s purpose is to rescue us, not Paris
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Significance of Lyric Poetry
• but even more important than this change in world view, lyric poets were clearly literate
• even though they still recited their poetry in performance
• no longer were poems composed spontaneously before an audience the way oral poets like Homer had done
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric PoetryThe Significance of Lyric Poetry
• this makes lyric poetry the beginning of true “literature” (i.e. written down in “letters”)
• literate poets can revise their work more easily and create a wider diversity of poetry
• most important of all, a literate poet’s work is more readily preserved than oral epics
• assuming the poet is not censored!
Chapter 5: Lyric PoetryChapter 5: Lyric Poetry
Grammar Review 5: Parts of Speech