The Muses in Greek Mythology and Art

The muses wre nine in number, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, Momory. They are of one mind, their hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care. Clio was muse of history, urania, of astronomy, melpomene of tragedy, thalia of comedy, terpischore of dance, calliope of epic poetry, erato of love-poetry, polyhymnia of songs to gods, euterpe of lyric poetry.

The Greek mythology presents Medusa as a monster, with the power to turn anyone who looks into her eyes to stone and with snakes that replicate her hair. But, in the poem by Mary Sarton “The Muse As Medusa” we see an incomparable image of Medusa to the Greek mythology. In this poem Medusa helps the speaker through a difficult time. The speaker depicts herself through her poem as someone who is lost, sad and defeated by the world around her. The speaker sees herself in Medusa, where they are both misinterpreted by the world around them. Medusa being powerful is able to cope with the world's misconception of her and shows the speaker how that's possible. The speaker takes into account how the world is the one that misinterpreted them and

In my research I have learned an addition of facts and stories about Greek mythology. Like how “the Pegasus and Chrysor came from the blood of Medusa’s head after Perseus cut it off” (Greek Mythology). Or how the “Amazonian group of warriors was all females” (Greek Mythology). The more that I have research about my topic the more fascinating and interesting it becomes. I hope that everyone will further their research and knowledge on this topic whether it’s reading a book, researching on the Internet, or even just watching a movie.

Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.

The way these women were portrayed indicates how women were seen back in this time, thus revealing how little impact these women have. Women were portrayed as not being their own person; they were only represented

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these “lovers”. After analysis of the content of both the “young man” sonnets and the “dark lady sonnets”, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress.

Although, the women often appears in Greek mythology as dangerous and immoral. In the myths of the Greeks from the earliest poems of the archaic period to the sophisticated dramas of classical Athens, there appears a pervasive fear of women. Female characters of many Greek dramas child killer Medea, the husband killing Clytemnestra, and the mother killing Electra. While these females appeared previously in Greek myth, the Greek authors further explored their characters and displayed their malice in greater depth. As can be seen from myths and drama, this fear as it surfaced in ancient Athens is voicing of the male concern that women are a threat to their masculine society and have the potential to disrupt and destroy

The very fact that both women dared to write about taboo subjects in their time says a lot about the character of both of them. Their poetry shows that women are concerned with more than just household affairs. They were women of intelligence. They were very brave in the fact that they opened conversations and thoughts regarding how women felt and how they reacted to worldly subjects.

Virgil is a poet known for his epic poem The Aeneid. He was born in 70BC as a peasant and raised on a farm. Many of his poems were influenced by his rural upbringing. While he grew up Rome was in ruins, he hated the instability and the fact that farms fell into neglect because farmers were forced into the war, and he wanted the countryside to be beautiful again. He became famous because of his poems and before The Aeneid was published he was a member of the Roman elite. Once Augustus became ruler of Rome, Virgil began writing The Aeneid to tell the story of his “ideal” Rome. Virgil was to travel to Greece to work on The Aeneid for an additional three years, but caught a fever and returned to Italy. He subsequently died shortly thereafter and was unable to complete the final edits of the poem. Virgil was regarded by the Romans as their national poet.

In The New Sappho, she opens by stating “(You for) the fragrant-bosomed (Muses’) lovely gifts / (be zealous,) girls, (and the) clear melodious lyre,” which can be translated to Sappho telling the reader, who is presumably younger, be devoted to the gifts the muses have granted, for the melodious musical instrument is either comparable to your voice or opening the poetry (Sappho 1-2). The reason it can be suggested that the reader is potentially younger, is due to the method Sappho uses to approach or introduce them. I believe she intended for the reader to be a young woman, or considering her poems were usually presented in song, perhaps she was addressing the younger females within the audience. The reference of the instrument, however, can be interpreted two different ways. Either Sappho is continuing to bless and compliment the women by comparing their voice to the beautiful music of a Greek instrument, or she was making a statement and

In Greek mythology the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus played a major role in everyday life. The Greeks respected them and thought of the gods as all mighty.

3.Calliope once fell in love with Ares and she wanted to prove her love to him. So she

Poets and authors alike evoke emotion and pictures from one single word. The imagery and thoughts put into the readers’ heads by these different writers are the base of one’s creativity and imagination while reading the author’s work of art. William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known poets of all time that is able to elicit these emotions from the reader to allow the reader to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to accomplish with his poems. Shakespeare keeps his audience entertained with a whopping 154 sonnets, each having a different meaning and imagery associated with it. Sonnet 18, “[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day]”, and Sonnet 55, “[Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments]”, are both one of Shakespeare’s most famous works. Shakespeare uses these sonnets to explore the powerful relationship between humanity, art, and time.

Ultimately, Shakespeare expresses his own feelings and opinions through the sonnet. His usage of language techniques helps him do so. Love is shown to be not only a quality, but it is personified as a perfect, unchanging thing, unaffected by time. Shakespeare has really proved himself to be a prolific writer and extraordinarily capable poet as result of this

The majority of Elizabethan sonnets reflect two major themes: time and love. William Shakespeare, too, followed this convention, producing 154 sonnets, many of which deal with the usual theme of love. Because the concept of love is in itself so immense, Shakespeare found several ways to capture the essence of his passion. Therefore, in his poetry he explored various methods and used them to describe the emotions associated with his love for a mysterious "dark lady." These various ideas and views resulted in a series of sonnets that vibrantly depicts his feelings of true, undying love for his lady. Instead of making the topic less interesting, as some might expect, Shakespeare's myriad approaches