Poetry In Ancient Greece

1. Poetry In Ancient Greece “Some would say the most beautiful thing on our dark earth is an army of Calvary, others of infantry, others of ships, but I say it’s whatever a person loves.” -Sappho

2. The Archaic Period Who: Early Archaic- -Homer -Hesiod Late Archaic- -Sappho -Solon • General Trends: • Poems of the Archaic age were often very long and written as day to day speech would have been; this is also known as narrative poetry • There are not many pieces from this time period because a common practice was to solely memorize poems. During this period, writing was not widespread, and in many ways, we are fortunate to have any examples. Homer was one of only a few people whose works we have. • Many pieces often dealt with mythological situations/characters and were given a very bland rhythm. They were known as epic poems. • Hymns, or poems just meant for reading, were also seen from such poems as the Homeric Hymns.

3. The Late Archaic Period • General Trends: • During the late Archaic period, people moved from the common tactic of mostly oral presentation into writing poems down. • A new type of poetry started to emerge called lyric. These poems were much shorter than the narrative poetry of earlier in the period. • Lyric poetry was created to be complemented by a a harp like instrument called the lyre. • Poems started to turn into songs and were often performed in public to honor people and/or certain Gods. • People such as Solon started to write poems that deal with serious issues such as local political matters. • One huge trend that can be seen in this later Archaic period, is that people started to focus on individual feelings and expressing them in new ways

4. Examples: This is just en excerpt from the first few lines of the Odyssey out of many thousands. This is an example of the poems of the time: long and very narrative The Odyssey By Homer 700 BCE Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who traveled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home;

5. ODE TO A LOVED ONE by: Sappho   LEST as the immortal gods is he, The youth who fondly sits by thee, And hears and sees thee, all the while, Softly speaks and sweetly smile. 'Twas this deprived my soul of rest, And raised such tumults in my breast; For, while I gazed, in transport tossed, My breath was gone, my voice was lost; My bosom glowed; the subtle flame Ran quick through all my vital frame; O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung; My ears with hollow murmurs rung; In dewy damps my limbs were chilled; My blood with gentle horrors thrilled: My feeble pulse forgot to play; I fainted, sunk, and died away. There is much individual feeling in this poem as she is talking about her loved one that she misses. As is evident by the frequent rhyming, this poem could have easily been presented with use of a musical instrument such as a lyre.

6. Greek poetry did have certain number of feet, and followed a rhythm. Poets put emphasis on syllables, and the value of each syllable in a line. They did not want their audience be distracted by rhyming words, but they often formalized the number of feet per line, and the length of the poem. The emphasis was on the value of each sound in contrast to the previous and next sound. Poets were focused on the spoken Greek language and the beautiful images it could create. Poetry was used in almost everything: plays, lectures, epics, stories, songs, choruses, prayer, praise, and other Greek culture. Poetry was a collection of words that when put together created love, peace, hate, anger, passion, and other emotions. The public loved to see a play, prayer, or story written in poetic versification to experience a broad range of emotions internally. Greek Poetry in Public Love (from Antigone) Love, unconquered in battle Love, you who fall upon men’s wealth Who keep your night-watch on the soft cheeks of a girl Who travel across the sea or to men’s country dwellings not one of the immortals can escape you nor any mortal man. He who touches you is seized by madness. Even the mind of the just you drag From its course to injustice and to dishonur It is you who stirred these men of common blood to fight sharp desire, kindled by the eyes of the lovely bride is the conqueror Desire sits enthroned and rules together with the great laws and Aphrodite playfully mocks, the goddess none can defeat. -Sophocles

7. The Greek Classical Period • General Trends of the Time Period: • Poetry during this time period moved into the form of Drama. In these Dramas, the poetry would take the form of song and narrative. • Another trend of the classical time period is that poetry took the form of oral presentations. Many greats of the time would get up in front of groups of people to perform certain types of poetry. These were some of the greatest and most passionate of the time. Orators such as Antiphon and Andocides would bring in great crowds to Athens. • More attention was paid to the form, direct expression, and the economy of words, of poetry. Who: -Aeschylus -Aristophanes -Simonides -Anacreon

8. More Trends of Classical Poetry All poetry follows a pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables. A syllable is a single sound in a word. The word “cat” has one syllable. The word “because” has two syllables, “be-cause”. Every sound has syllables. A stressed syllable is emphasized when spoken. An unstressed syllable is not emphasized when spoken. Stressed and unstressed syllables are not easily differentiated in everyday English usage. In Greek, stressed syllables were lengthened and held for twice as long as unstressed syllables rather than emphasized as English does. Poets have created a few different patterns of stressed/unstressed syllables to write in: -Iambic Meter - unstressed, stressed -Trochaic Meter - stressed, unstressed -Anapestic Meter – unstressed, unstressed, stressed -Dactylic Meter – stressed, stressed, unstressed -Spondaic Meter- stressed, stressed

9. Examples He is writing of war which is characteristic of certain poets during this time period Epitaph At Thermopylae by Simonides Four thousand of us fought three million.When you visit Sparta, tell them:Here, the soldiers kept their word. We are only left with fragments of his work It is evident that he was using his words wisely and concentrating on the economy of them unlike some such as Homer from the Archaic period

10. AGE by: Anacreon (c.572-488 BC) OFT am I by the women told, "Poor Anacreon! thou growest old; Look; how thy hairs are falling all; Poor Anacreon, how they fall!"-- Whether I grow old or no, By the effects I do not know; But this I know, without being told, 'Tis time to live, if i grow old; 'Tis time short pleasures now to take, Of little life the best to make, And manage wisely the last stake. The rhythm of the poem suggests that it could have been accompanied by a lyre or some other type of instrument. This poem is focus on one subject

11. The Hellenistic Period Who: -Anyte of Tegea -Heraclitus -Callimachus -Theocritus - Apollonius Rhodius • General Trends of the Hellenistic Period: • We can start to see the emergence of epigrams. Epigrams are short, often witty poems, that deal with a single thought or observation. This was a spin off from a trend of the classical period where poets would try to play with the economy of words and the differing forms of those words. • We can also see the emergence of a new type of poetry: bucolic poetry. A bucolic poem is one that relates to rural subjects such as Shepherds and herding. • Also we see some scholarly people re-work/ add additions classical Greek poems.

12. Aristotle was one of the earliest literary critics. He wrote one of his lesser known books, The Poetics regarding Classical Poetry. • The Poeticsstates; • The plot is truly the first principle and so to say the soul of tragedy; • and the second is character • The third element is thought • Character is that which reveals choice • The fourth of the elements in the literary items is style • Style is the means of interpretation through meaning. And this has the same force for poetry and prose. Aristotle’s Poetics “Mine is the first step and therefore a small one, though worked out with much thought and hard labor. You, my readers or hearers of my lectures, if you think I have done as much as can fairly be expected of an initial start. . . will acknowledge what I have achieved and will pardon what I have left for others to accomplish.

13. Examples: As is characteristic of the time, we see that this poem is short and to the point. A Poem by Anyte of Tegea No longer will I delight in floating seas, and toss up my head, raising it from the depths, Nor will I snort and leap about the ship’s beautiful beak, delighting in the figurehead, my likeness. The purple swell of the sea cast me upon the shore, and I lie along this narrow beach. This poem deals with a single subject (dead dolphins) and explores it.

14. The Epigram Translation: Heraclitus If all things were turned to Smoke, the nostrils would distinguish them This is a classic Epigram. It is very short and it gets directly to the point

15. A ReviewChanges in Ancient Grecian Poetry Over Time • Late Archaic poetry saw the introduction of an instrument; this type of poetry was known a lyric poetry. • Archaic Poetry: • Can be categorized into Early and Late • Early Archaic poetry consisted of long epic poems that were often thousands of lines long. • The most famous poet of this time was Homer. • Most pieces were not written down because many people thought that it was better to memorize them.

16. More Review • Hellenistic Period: • Specialty poems could be seen in different parts of Greece. New types were created from the experimentation during the classical period. • These included the epigram and bucolic poetry. • Some people also started to rework poems from the previous classical period. • Classical Period: • Poetry started to move into different forms including but not limited to dramas. • Poets started to play around with the differing forms that poetry could take and the benefits of each. • Poetry started to become more passionate.