#classical poetry

[zeldahime]

Anacreon, poem 358

I read this poem in Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome (Sandra Boehringer, 2007, translated to English by Anna Preger in 2021) in the section on representations of female desire in archaic Greek poetry and went OH MY GOD

[achillesreborn]

if i see one more "poetry" book that's like

"i was water

but he

was a sponge"

i'm gonna lose my shit

[amicus-noctis]

“Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive.”

― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

[vaviumm]

[whenaprilwoodsarered]

Opinion — Imperfection —

Those we all must have -

To Butt out Heads,-

Superior —

And Fall on Soiled ground —

The Sky can tell you what is right,-

And the Patterns of the sand —

Though - we are imperfect -

We live on perfect Land —

[nonvaleantredeo]

Marius de Romanus Appreciation Week, bonus day

Prompt: DOMINUS

I just want to say thank you to everyone 🙏🏻❤️‍🔥

~Dominus meus~

I’ll spread my wings and Saviour

Not Made by Hands will radiate in night

He’s on my chest, like shield or barrier,

My doppelganger

Whether I might not able to refuse?

For marble of the skin and living blood

In dying hour slave of yours or heretic

Exalt the prayer to undying lover

Pseudo-theologicien

Creator, master, my  two-faced God

His love vestments in spirit, not a flesh

Seducing as if he is authentic Satana

And giving only the flamboyant knowledge in its full

The stillness of the icon, ancient sculpture argent

Philosopher with covered in passion heart

Desire for a life is culpa for the dying-rising God

[sybillum]

don’t tell to me ‘there’s no salvation’, that in your sadness you grew cold, the darker’s night, the brighter are the constellations, the deeper is the sorrow, the closer to you - God.

- Apollon Maykov, ***, 1878 (translated by yours truly)

- screenshot from Gray Dawn

[enlitment]

Top 5 lines written by Catullus!

Thank you for the ask (and for indulging me!). I may stretch the definition of what can realistically be considered 'a line' a bit, but it's for the sake of context, I promise!

C 31: Sirmio

O what freedom from care is more joyful/ than when the mind lays down its burden/and weary, back home from foreign toil/ we rest in the bed we longed for?

This one is just incredibly relatable for anyone coming back home from any long trip! It is just as true now as it was more than 2000 years ago.

2: C 99: Stolen Kisses: to Iuventius

you have handed wretched me over to spiteful Love/nor have you ceased to torture me in every way/so that for me that kiss is now changed from ambrosia/to be harsher than harsh hellebore

I've included this line mostly because I love the contrast between ambrosia and hellebore. I also think that there is something powerful and effective about taste metaphors, yet I don't see them used very often. Here, it manages to beautifully illustrate poor Catullus' feelings in this particular situation! (Though obviously, you shouldn't go on kissing people out of the blue. That's kind of on him.)

Poor Catullus, getting rejected by both women and men, left and right

3. Attis

So, rapidly, from sweet dream and free of madness/ Attis recollected his actions in his thoughts/ and saw with a clear heart what and where he had been/ turning again with passionate mind to the sea.

Nothing like the pain of the morning after, am I right?

In all seriousness, all of Attis is amazing. The language (even the translations, I sadly cannot appreciate the original), the imagery, the links to mythology, it's all so beautiful. It's also such a rich area for analysis - I've thought about it a lot, but I'm sure if barely scracthed the surface at this point.

I personally see it as an expression of the fear of emasculation that comes with being deeply obsessed with a female lover (as he was with Lesbia)? I cannot claim any expertise beside having read all of his work and knowing some of the context of his life + the Roman views on masculinity. I've also read a few opinions of people arguing for a possible trans reading, which is incredibly interesting as well.

4. C 9: Back from Spain: To Veranius

You’re back. O happy news for me!/ I’ll see you safe and sound and listen/ to your tales of Spanish places that you’ve done/ and tribes, as is your custom, and/ hang about your neck, and kiss/ your lovely mouth and eyes

I don't know, just something about him expressing such genuine joy about being reunited with his friend seems incredibly sweet. (Also introduces the idea of kissing someone on the eyes which. Um. Seems to be an ongoing thing for Catullus. Sure, you do you.)

5. C 64: Epithalamium for Peleus and Thetis

The Minoan girl goes on gazing at the distance/ with mournful eyes, like the statue of a Bacchante/ gazes, alas, and swells with great waves of sorrow

Again, I just love the whole poem. It is probably my favourite Catullus poem (along with C 50, but they have very different vibes). I find it fascinating that a male poet can empathise so much with the female perspective (which is a bit of an ongoing theme in his poetry). I cannot help but think that he must have personally related to Ariadne's pain, being rejected by his former lover - Lesbia - like she was by Theseus. It would certainly help to explain how he was able to portray her state of mind with such incredible depth and complexity.

I also adore the beauty of the language and the many references to Greek mythology of course.

[lena-hills]

Chapter 4 of my Regency AU, in which Kanan and Hera flirt via bits of my favorite carpe diem poems, is live!

....fuck I am a nerd

[onlyyours2love]

Oh my fucking god

I just had an epiphany ok ok ok hear me out:

So we know that classical poems/epics were written during a time in which certain stories about certain characters were celebrated whether the people believed in the gods or not (ie. babylonian mythology, greek mythology, etc.)

Ok so now in the modern world a lot of people have their religion(s) and beliefs but they're not quite going out of their way to create stories inspired by said religions.

But you know who is writing stories about beloved and impactful characters?

Fanfic authors who specialize in writing fantasy fanfics that involve gods.

So what if millenia from now old archives of ao3 are recovered and are deemed as epic poems simply because a group of people was so invested into the stories of their characters?!?!?!

man I love humans and their cute little brains

[tinkerbitch69]

If you get this, I ❤️ you (read: I want to make out with you 🥵)

[creatediana]

"Myrrha's Son" - a poem written 4/08/2024

Inspired by the passage in The Wild Irish Girl (1806) by Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan:

In short, there are a thousand little fugitive graces playing around her, which are not beauty, but the cause of it; and were I to personify the word spell, she should sit for the picture.

[amicus-noctis]

[cupidstolemyfoot]

I'm taking notes

P. Ovidii Nasonis Ars Amatoria, 1.61-228

[whenaprilwoodsarered]

Am I Polluted?

Or are They?-

They don’t know Which -

To my dismay.

Am I supposed to ask the Jay?

“The Air’s polluted!”

She would say.

Well - what is right and what

Is wrong?

Suppose - the Jay’s

Untarnished song -

That Burns me bright -

Out to the night -

And as my Smoke -

Her Tune - prolongs -

[nonvaleantredeo]

Marius de Romanus Appreciation Week, day 7

Prompt: My independence, which is my strength, implies loneliness, which is my weakness (P. P. Pasolini) The poet Gallus dreaming (L. A. Tadema)

In the final day I present the most difficult (for me) piece, the Grave of Loneliness, that was named after the Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

This sonet needs a little excurs in Russian philosophy that I placed under it, please read it after sonet, it'll add another sence to the text

~The Grave of Loneliness~

I will be lonely for eternity, perhaps, more or a less

And heart of mine will turn into a mystery for everyone

But pain of hesitation gnaws the soul so deep and permanently

Melancholy and heartburn are my deadly sins garland

Won’t witness joyful amusements of my resemblings

And suffering of martyrdom in fullness eke

Bewitched by unknown goddamn armor piece

Will cover with a cerement vampire hearse

Through hundreds years voice desolated will awake

The shadow, ancient ghost is modern bogochelovek (emphasis is marked, read the caption)

Sepulcher song, litania of him – the voice of God

Not long enough last getaway from ell to heaven

The tremble of a grave catch him so far away

Conclude in ice of underground poet’s soul

Based on the Θεάνθρωπος or the Theanthropos term, bogochelovek is the essential part of Russian religious philosophy, that were invented (in sociocultural environment) by the V. S. Soloviev in 1878 in the work called «Lectures on a God-like-humankind». Basically, it’s a studies on a modern to him culture that leads (and now we know he’s right) people to self-destruction, and only work on culture can turn humankind to the direction of God-like-humankind, where everyone will be teacher to themselves, will work for the peace, wisdom and beauty in the word like the first Theanthropos – Jesus.