Could Have Been Epic: Daily Poems for September 2012

For more information, visit here. Baugher interview with Meg Tuite. I love all three of these exceptional flash pieces: I am captivated by the internal battles that infuse these pieces. Tell me a bit more about this first story and its inspiration. I am bewildered by how we mis-see the world around us, and how this mis-seeing can be great fodder for the imagination. Every day we translate what the right brain sees to what the left brain must analytically articulate.

Your writing is intriguing and allows the reader to enter easily into any of these mindsets and yet I find myself unraveling the layers beneath.

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How do you approach a story like this one? When I wrote this piece, I was working strictly on the literal — an actual door, actual threshold, etc. Does the piece also exist on the figurative? My students at the time were grappling with wanting to imbue their work with symbolism, metaphor, metonym, and the like.

Imagining what is happening behind the door and then being called to it. It is a labyrinth that I see so visually as though looking in a mirror at a door that continues on forever. Sorry, to keep bringing up these other writers. I can only admire this and wonder how it came to be, but how was the experience of writing this for you?

Setting inspired this story, as I literally accompanied my friend to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. I spent two days in February in that waiting room. Thus, while sitting there, I imagined what it would be like to hear my own name called. I followed that idea and did free-writes while waiting for my friend. Truth be told, if I did not compose another word as long as I live, I would still have a lifetime of revision work, just from the stories and poems languishing in that file cabinet! But then you came along, Meg. Were it not for your encouragement and deadline!

That makes me very happy. You made my month!

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Do you have a favorite genre to work with? Your prose is quite powerful and compact, like your poetry, but the language is very straight forward even if there are levels and levels to it. Your first collection was poetry. Is there a form that seems to come more naturally to you when you pick up that pen? I was hell-bent on my poem-making, so what was I supposed to do with a little memoir piece? I had the good notion to rip the pages out of my journal and forget that the whole thing happened.

What that experience taught me was that we cannot strong-arm the writing borne of the unconscious mind. Once the words had landed, seemingly of their own private volition, I had to deal with them. I believe we can be the obstacle to our own writing i. After the essay came that summer so did a piece of flash fiction.

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As a conduit for the writing, it was my job to process the writing, shape it into becoming what it wanted to, not what I wanted from it. The writings of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung taught me to trust the work of the unconscious mind, to submit to the words, to follow them out to the end. I trust the words, trust that they have an energy, shape, direction. So, to answer your question, I let my free-writes announce the genre to me. If I see my imagination at play, I know a poem or story is emerging.

If I see the truth of my personal history, I know creative nonfiction is brewing. I just follow the words out, hoping I do them some service. Your fellowship at the Island Institute of Sitka sounds like heaven. Some place where no one can find you and you have escaped into the inner realms. Can you share some of your experience?

Like tragedy, comedy arose from a ritual in honor of Dionysus , but in this case the plays were full of frank obscenity, abuse, and insult. At Athens , the comedies became an official part of the festival celebration in BC, and prizes were offered for the best productions. As with the tragedians, few works still remain of the great comedic writers. The only complete surviving works of classical comedy are eleven plays written by the playwright Aristophanes. He poked fun at everyone and every institution.

In The Birds , he ridicules Athenian democracy. In The Clouds , he attacks the philosopher Socrates. In Lysistrata , he denounces war. When it was performed for the first time at the Lenaia Festival in BC, just one year after the death of Euripides, the Athenians awarded it first prize. A commercially successful modern musical adaptation of it was performed on Broadway in The third dramatic genre was the satyr play. Although the genre was popular, only one complete example of a satyr play has survived: Two notable historians who lived during the Classical Era were Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides.

Herodotus is commonly called "The Father of History. Thucydides's book History of the Peloponnesian War greatly influenced later writers and historians, including the author of the book of Acts of the Apostles and the Byzantine Era historian Procopius of Caesarea. Xenophon also wrote three works in praise of the philosopher Socrates: Although both Xenophon and Plato knew Socrates, their accounts are very different. Many comparisons have been made between the account of the military historian and the account of the poet-philosopher.

Many important and influential philosophers lived during the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Among the earliest Greek philosophers were the three so-called " Milesian philosophers ": Thales of Miletus , Anaximander , and Anaximenes. Very little is known for certain about the life of the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos and no writings by him have survived to the present day, [56] but an impressive corpus of poetic writings written by his pupil Empedocles of Acragas has survived, making Empedocles one of the most widely attested Pre-Socratic philosophers.

Of all the classical philosophers, however, Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle are generally considered the most important and influential. Socrates did not write any books himself and modern scholars debate whether or not Plato's portrayal of him is accurate. Some scholars contend that many of his ideas, or at least a vague approximation of them, are expressed in Plato's early socratic dialogues.

Plato expressed his ideas through dialogues, that is, written works purporting to describe conversations between different individuals. Some of the best-known of these include: The Apology of Socrates , a purported record of the speech Socrates gave at his trial; [64] Phaedo , a description of the last conversation between Socrates and his disciples before his execution; [65] The Symposium , a dialogue over the nature of love ; [66] and The Republic , widely regarded as Plato's most important work, [67] [68] a long dialogue describing the ideal government.

Aristotle of Stagira is widely considered to be one of the most important and influential philosophical thinkers of all time. Aristotle was a student at Plato's Academy , and like his teacher, he wrote dialogues, or conversations. However, none of these exist today. The body of writings that has come down to the present probably represents lectures that he delivered at his own school in Athens, the Lyceum.

He explored matters other than those that are today considered philosophical; the extant treatises cover logic, the physical and biological sciences, ethics, politics, and constitutional government. Athens lost its preeminent status as the leader of Greek culture, and it was replaced temporarily by Alexandria , Egypt. The city of Alexandria in northern Egypt became, from the 3rd century BC, the outstanding center of Greek culture.

It also soon attracted a large Jewish population, making it the largest center for Jewish scholarship in the ancient world. In addition, it later became a major focal point for the development of Christian thought. The Musaeum , or Shrine to the Muses, which included the library and school, was founded by Ptolemy I. The institution was from the beginning intended as a great international school and library. It was intended to serve as a repository for every work of classical Greek literature that could be found.

The genre of bucolic poetry was first developed by the poet Theocritus. The Alexandrian poet Apollonius of Rhodes is best known for his epic poem the Argonautica , which narrates the adventures of Jason and his shipmates the Argonauts on their quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the land of Colchis. The most notable writer of New Comedy was the Athenian playwright Menander.

None of Menander's plays have survived to the present day in their complete form, but one play, The Bad-Tempered Man , has survived to the present day in a near-complete form. Large portions of another play entitled The Girl from Samos have also survived. The historian Timaeus was born in Sicily but spent most of his life in Athens. In 38 books it covered the history of Sicily and Italy to the year BC, which is where Polybius begins his work. Timaeus also wrote the Olympionikai , a valuable chronological study of the Olympic Games. Eratosthenes of Alexandria c.

He is credited with being the first person to measure the Earth's circumference. Much that was written by the mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes has been preserved. Euclid is known for his Elements , much of which was drawn from his predecessor Eudoxus of Cnidus. The Elements is a treatise on geometry, and it has exerted a continuing influence on mathematics. From Archimedes several treatises have come down to the present. A manuscript of his works is currently being studied.

Very little has survived of prose fiction from the Hellenistic Era. The Milesiaka itself has not survived to the present day in its complete form, but various references to it have survived. The book established a whole new genre of so-called " Milesian tales ," of which The Golden Ass by the later Roman writer Apuleius is a prime example.

The ancient Greek novels Chaereas and Callirhoe [90] by Chariton and Metiochus and Parthenope [91] [92] were probably both written during the late first century BC or early first century AD, during the latter part of the Hellenistic Era. The discovery of several fragments of Lollianos's Phoenician Tale reveal the existence of a genre of ancient Greek picaresque novel. While the transition from city-state to empire affected philosophy a great deal, shifting the emphasis from political theory to personal ethics, Greek letters continued to flourish both under the Successors especially the Ptolemies and under Roman rule.

Romans of literary or rhetorical inclination looked to Greek models, and Greek literature of all types continued to be read and produced both by native speakers of Greek and later by Roman authors as well. A notable characteristic of this period was the expansion of literary criticism as a genre, particularly as exemplified by Demetrius, Pseudo-Longinus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The New Testament , written by various authors in varying qualities of Koine Greek also hails from this period, [94] [7]: The poet Quintus of Smyrna , who probably lived during the late fourth century AD, [96] [97] wrote Posthomerica , an epic poem narrating the story of the fall of Troy, beginning where The Iliad left off.

The poet Nonnus of Panopolis wrote The Dionysiaca , the longest surviving epic poem from antiquity. He also wrote a poetic paraphrase of The Gospel of John. The historian Polybius was born about BC. He was brought to Rome as a hostage in In Rome he became a friend of the general Scipio Aemilianus. He probably accompanied the general to Spain and North Africa in the wars against Carthage.

He was with Scipio at the destruction of Carthage in He wrote a universal history , Bibliotheca Historica , in 40 books. Of these, the first five and the 11th through the 20th remain.

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The first two parts covered history through the early Hellenistic era. The third part takes the story to the beginning of Caesar's wars in Gaul, now France. His history of Rome from its origins to the First Punic War to BC is written from a Roman point of view, but it is carefully researched. Arrian served in the Roman army.

His book therefore concentrates heavily on the military aspects of Alexander's life. Arrian also wrote a philosophical treatise, the Diatribai , based on the teachings of his mentor Epictetus. Best known of the late Greek historians to modern readers is Plutarch of Chaeronea , who died about AD His Parallel Lives of great Greek and Roman leaders has been read by every generation since the work was first published. His other surviving work is the Moralia , a collection of essays on ethical, religious, political, physical, and literary topics. During later times, so-called " commonplace books ," usually describing historical anecdotes, became quite popular.

The physician Galen lived during the 2nd century AD. He was a careful student of anatomy, and his works exerted a powerful influence on medicine for the next 1, years. Strabo , who died about AD 23, was a geographer and historian. His Historical Sketches in 47 volumes has nearly all been lost.

His Geographical Sketches remain as the only existing ancient book covering the whole range of people and countries known to the Greeks and Romans through the time of Augustus. The book takes the form of a tour of Greece, starting in Athens and ending in Naupactus. The scientist of the Roman period who had the greatest influence on later generations was undoubtedly the astronomer Ptolemy.

He lived during the 2nd century AD, [] though little is known of his life. His masterpiece, originally entitled The Mathematical Collection , has come to the present under the title Almagest , as it was translated by Arab astronomers with that title. His teachings were collected by his pupil Arrian in the Discourses and the Encheiridion Manual of Study.

Diogenes Laertius , who lived in the third century AD, wrote Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , a voluminous collection of biographies of nearly every Greek philosopher who ever lived. Unfortunately, Diogenes Laertius often fails to cite his sources and many modern historians consider his testimony unreliable. His biography of Epicurus , for instance, is of particularly high quality and contains three lengthy letters attributed to Epicurus himself, at least two of which are generally agreed to be authentic.

Another major philosopher of his period was Plotinus. He transformed Plato's philosophy into a school called Neoplatonism. After the rise of Christianity, many of the most important philosophers were Christians. The second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr , who wrote exclusively in Greek, made extensive use of ideas from Greek philosophy, especially Platonism.

The Roman Period was the time when the majority of extant works of Greek prose fiction were composed. Daphnis and Chloe , by far the most famous of the five surviving ancient Greek romance novels, is a nostalgic tale of two young lovers growing up in an idealized pastoral environment on the Greek island of Lesbos.



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The Wonders Beyond Thule has not survived in its complete form, but a very lengthy summary of it written by Photios I of Constantinople has survived. The satirist Lucian of Samosata lived during the late second century AD. Lucian's works were incredibly popular during antiquity. Over eighty different writings attributed to Lucian have survived to the present day.

His book The Syrian Goddess , however, was written in a faux- Ionic dialect , deliberately imitating the dialect and style of Herodotus. Eighty versions of it have survived in twenty-four different languages, attesting that, during the Middle Ages, the novel was nearly as popular as the Bible. Ancient Greek literature has had an enormous impact on western literature as a whole. These ideas were later, in turn, adopted by other western European writers and literary critics.

For instance, the Greek novels influenced the later work Hero and Leander , written by Musaeus Grammaticus. The medieval writer Roger Bacon wrote that "there are not four men in Latin Christendom who are acquainted with the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic grammars. The influence of classical Greek literature on modern literature is also evident. Numerous figures from classical literature and mythology appear throughout The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. John Milton 's epic poem Paradise Lost is written using a similar style to the two Homeric epics. Richard as "one of the most popular books ever published in the United States".

George Bernard Shaw 's play Pygmalion is a modern, rationalized retelling of the ancient Greek legend of Pygmalion. Even in works that do not consciously draw on Graeco-Roman literature, authors often employ concepts and themes originating in ancient Greece. The ideas expressed in Aristotle's Poetics , in particular, have influenced generations of Western writers and literary critics. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

How to Write an Epic Poem

Linear B tablet from the Archaeological Museum of Mycenae. Hellenistic period , Hellenistic art , and Hellenistic Greece. Greek mathematics , Greek astronomy , and Medicine in ancient Greece. The prominence of the Theban plague at the play's opening suggests to many scholars a reference to the plague that devastated Athens in BC, and hence a production date shortly thereafter.

See, for example, Knox, Bernard American Journal of Philology. Consequently, deciding where they start and where they end is often difficult. However, it is generally accepted that this quote is not Simplicius' own interpretation, but Anaximander's writing, in "somewhat poetic terms" as it is mentioned by Simplicius. The Decipherment of Linear B Second ed.



Documents in Mycenaean Greek. The Universities of the Italian Renaissance. Johns Hopkins University Press. The Children of Herodotus: Greek and Roman Historiography and Related Genres. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: NewYork City, New York: The Iliad of Homer. The University of Chicago Press, Ltd.

The University of Chicago Press. Book 1, Line number p. A Practical Reading Approach". Retrieved 12 March A History of Greek Literature p. Greek Literature , P. Retrieved 17 January These traditions were first recounted only orally as there was no sacred text in Greek religion and later, attempts were made to put in writing this oral tradition, notably by Hesiod in his Theogony and more indirectly in the works of Homer. Edmonds - Lyra Graeca p.

A New Edition of the Complete Works. Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization. New York City, New York: The Authenticity of the Prometheus Bound. The Three Theban Plays. A Political, Social, and Cultural History. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. History of the Theatre. Ninth edition, International edition. Dover ed , Oxford University Press , Intro. A New Translation by Paul Roche. Peace, Birds and Frogs.

Retrieved 5 April Cyclops; Greek Tragedy in New Translations. James Luce, The Greek Historians , , p. Xenophontis opera omnia , vol.