The Lyric Age

1

• The Lyric Age
• after Homers 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

2

• The Lyric Age
• but keeping track of ones 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

3

• The 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

4

• The 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

5

• The Lyric Age
• that meant verses which were fast and intense,
  and immediately rewarding
• thus, during the Lyric Age an evenings
  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

6

• The 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

7

• The 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?

8

• The 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

9

• The 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 Homers

10

• The 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

11
Statuette of a Poet Playing the Lyre
12

• The 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

13
A Greek Vase Depicting a Lyric Poet in the
Rapture of Performance
14

• The 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

15

• Sappho
• the best exponent of lyric poetry was a woman
  named Sappho
• her poetry represents one of the very few womans
  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 worlds
  deep-seated misogyny

16
A Greek Vase depicting the Lyric Poets Sappho and
Alcaeus
17

• Sappho
• 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

18

• Sappho
• 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

19

• Sappho
• 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

20

• Sappho
• 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 Sapphos poetry is one of
  the greatest literary catastrophes of all time

21

• Sappho
• moreover, to focus on Sapphos 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
  Sapphos affection
• that is, Sappho writes honestly and elegantly
  about herself, e.g. what loves does to her

22

• Sappho
• Poem 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 hear
• your sweet whispering
• And your laughter, glistening, which
• the heart in my breast beats for.
• For when on you I glance, I do not,
• not one sound, emit.

23

• Sappho
• Poem 31
• But my tongue snaps, lightly
• runs beneath my flesh a flame,
• and from my eyes no light, and rumbling
• comes into my ears,
• And my skin grows damp, and trembling
• all over racks me, and greener than the grass
• am I, and one step short of dying
• I seem to myself.

24

• Sappho
• Poem 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

25

• Sappho
• Poem 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

26

• Sappho
• Poem 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

27

• Sappho
• Poem 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)

28

• Sappho
• Poem 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)

29

• Sappho
• Poem 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

30

• Sappho
• Poem 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 shes not the point -- Love is!

31

• Sappho
• Poem 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 there
• when you heard my voice from afar
• you listened and left your fathers home
• of gold and you came

32

• Sappho
• Poem 1
• Hitching up your chariot. Lovely they that lead
  you
• the swift sparrows above the darkling earth
• wings whirling countless from heaven
• sent 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 why
• this time I called her

33

• Sappho
• Poem 1
• And what most of all my heart wished to have
• in my troubled way. Who is it this time Im
• to turn back to your favor? Who hurts
• you now, Sappho dear?
• You know, if she runs, soon she will chase
• and if she spurns presents, some day shell
  give them
• and if she rejects love, soon she will love,
• like it or not. So,

34

• Sappho
• Poem 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.

35

• Sappho
• Poem 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?

36

• Lyric 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)

37

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 16
• One man has his cavalry, another has his
  legions,
• yet another has his ships, on all the earth
• most beautiful to him. But to me it is the
• single thing one loves.
• How easy it is to make this understood
• to anyone, for, far outstripping mortal
• loveliness, Helen left her man
• and a good man too!

38

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 16
• Left him and went off to Troy, sailing
• away 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 passionwhich makes
• me think now of Anactoria,
• who isnt here now.

39

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 16
• I would rather see her lovely step
• and her twinkling bright face
• than Lydians process in pomp and
• soldiers pageantry.

40

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 16
• One man has his cavalry, another has his
  legions,
• yet another has his ships, on all the earth
• most beautiful to him. But to me it is the
• single thing one loves.
• while Sappho openly denounces Homeric values,
  such as soldiers pageantry
• and insists instead that love controls our lives

41

• Lyric 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
42

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 16
• also note the way she make comparisons
• How easy it is to make this understood
• to anyone, for, far outstripping mortal
• loveliness, Helen left her man
• cf. Homeric similes
• Helens passion is a simile for the power of
  Eros in Sapphos word

43

• Lyric 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

44

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 2
• Here to me from Crete to this temple here
• this shrine, where you have this graceful grove
• of apples, and the fragrant altars
• fume with frankincense.
• In here the cold water bubbles through branches
• of apples, and with roses everythings
• shaded, and glistening in the wind the leaves
• rain down gentle sleep.

45

• Lyric Poetry and Epic
• Sappho, Poem 2
• In here the meadow horses graze flourishes
• in spring with flowers, and the winds
• soothing breathe . . .
• To there, you . . . lift, Aphrodite,
• in golden goblets lightly
• whats mixed with our delights, the nectar
• like the wine, come pour!

46

• The 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

47

• The Significance of Lyric Poetry
• that is, our lives here and now stand in the
  foreground of Sapphos poetry
• and Homers gods and heroes serve mainly to give
  our lives dimension and depth
• in Sapphos world view, we are what is important,
  not some mythical figures
• Aphrodites purpose is to rescue us, not Paris

48

• The 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

49

• The 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 poets work is
  more readily preserved than oral epics
• assuming the poet is not censored!

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Grammar Review 5 Parts of Speech