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GREEK AND ROMAN LOVE POETRY
Noah Pikes Greek and Roman love poetry
An excellent edition of In Our Time which wonderfully demonstrated how our time is not so original as we are led to believe, how the recognition, acknowledgement and articulation of the individual experience of erotic love has its roots in ancient Greece and Rome. Not only its content but the way the presenters brought it to life was great radio 4. Many thanks to all concerned and, like other listeners, more of the same please. And great to be able to listen again in your online archive.
greek and roman poetry
Congrats on choosing to do such a complex subject in half an hour. Too much time was wasted persuing whether lyric love poetry had taken over from the epic. In fact they always ran in tandem, eg Vergil's Aeneid and Statius's Thebeid.. The proposition by your male academic that Sappho was illiterate is plain daft. My main gripe is how little of the ancients' actual poetry was quoted. There are some good translations around. Why not have an actor doing some apt passages? Eg Catullus's famous Odi et amo.. and Ode on the death of his mistress's Sparrow in mock heroics. But, as I say, it was brave to try!
Ian Buist. Greek Lyric Poetry
A wonderful programme, but really to understand the lyricists I feel you have to begin with Archilochos - famous for celebrating his own cowardice, in having thrown away his shield. Also the author of a famous saying - "Wine, dear boy, and truth..."I was also disappointed not to hear mentioned both Alcaeus and Alcman. I love the descriptions in the latter of his exhaustion at the girls' dance...But of all I think I prefer Stesichoros, for his unforgettable description of the Sun sinking, stepping into his golden bowl, and journeying round Ocean to his family, while Herakles steps into the quiet laurel grove.There's nothing like taking a voume of this poetry with you on any tour that involves wandering a bit round Greece![By the way, I don't think quite enough space was given to the Anthology - or anthologies - including the contrasting erotic poems of Bks. 5 [heterosxual] and 12 [same-sex].Room for another programme soon again, perhaps?
Frances Jessup GREEK LOVE POETRY
It was interesting but I wonder if you will be able to touch on the United Nations Ideals soon and how necessary, if unattainable, they are.
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