Only the Classics
The roots from which poetry as we know it has flourished. Taking you back to the classical era, one stanza at a time.
T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"
"The Waste Land" is a wrathful attack on modern civilisation, stretching not only to the horror of the Great War but attacking the society that bore it. In his sobering evocations of ancient myths and Shakespearean lines, T.S. Eliot contrasts contemporary society with the past, atheism with belief; thus bringing about the breakdown and dysfunction of the society of "Wasteland."
By Louis Nicholas7 years ago in Poets
Homeric Heroism
To what extent did Homer view Odysseus as a heroic figure? Throughout the Odyssey, Homer emphasises Odysseus’s heroism whilst subtlety insisting on his self-sabotage. Odysseus’ heroism is shown by his being King of Ithaca and leader of his crew, alongside his divine status as champion of the gods, in his case Athene; echoing more ancient heroes like Hercules and Perseus. Yet if it was indeed Homer’s intention to present Odysseus as a hero, he is presented most peculiarly. To begin with, there is the problem of his lack of personal vigour. Unlike Achilles or Hercules, whose heroism stems from his outstanding abilities in battle, Odysseus’ heroism is based on stratagems, as seen on every occasion including his defeats. From Troy to Polyphemus’ Cave and to Ithaca, Odysseus wins by undermining the position of his enemies rather than a personal heroic confrontation, showing thus his great intelligence and cunning. Whilst at the same time alarming us with his slyness and his apparent willingness to sacrifice his men. Homer gives us many examples of Odysseus’ wiles on many occasions, such as in Book IX with the Ci-cones and in Book XII with Scylla and Charybdis. In the same way a Spartan would conceive of a bow and arrow as unmanly (which of course were the very symbolic instruments which Odysseus used to prove his worth), Odysseus’ cunning and his wit, so unique to him, is both the foundation and the main undermining quality of his heroism.
By Louis Nicholas7 years ago in Poets
Letter to Walt Whitman
My Dear Walt Whitman, Primarily, I feel compelled, before any other written action of mine is composed, I am compelled to exceedingly compliment your blatantly-written work, Song of Myself, as one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of perusing and contemplating! Were I to travel in time to meet you, I would convey the impeccable impact your artfully-written work has had on literature even to my own day and time, in the year 2013. The book my literature class studies praises and quotes you as "the poet of both the beautiful and the plain, the body and the soul; [and says] his sexual honesty and refusal to feel ashamed of the body was a slap in the face to Victorian prudishness."
By Keilie Desirea Rose7 years ago in Poets
