The Greek Lyric Poets

When considering ancient Greek poetry no one is as notorious as Homer. Homer produced some of the first mature literature to originate from the Greeks. These works include The Iliad and Odyssey. These pieces have become modern terms in the household today. Both works have been translated and divided into 24 separate books, each originally printed on rolls of papyrus usually called scrolls.

Papyrus, or paper in modern terms, was made from the papyrus reed that grew only in the Nile Valley. When made into a scroll, using pieces of the reed itself and a little glue, papyrus was the medium for mainly preliminary drafts and finished work of Greek literature. The Egyptians, because of their location, were exposed to the papyrus reed and developed the papyrus since the third millennium B.C. The Greek community most likely obtained the bulk of their papyrus from trades with the Egyptians. For a number of years the roll of papyrus continued to be used for written literature. Quoting was difficult with this style of Ð''published' work. Codex was later developed to replace the out of date roll style. This style proved to be successful as it is similar to what books look like today.

Early Greek writing was done in complete capital letters. Punctuation was neglected along with word division, and accents. Obviously this was difficult to decipher let alone read. Isocrates introduced the indication of ending a sentence with a sign in the margin. This was the birth of what later became the period.

Although Homer may be the most well known Greek poet there are many others who have produced significant amounts of mature literature. Anacreon, Solon, Simonides, Alcaeus, and Sappho have all contributed significantly to the output of the Greek poetry. Although the work produced from these authors was not in 24 books of length, the emotion and intensity of their writing was not to be ignored.

Anacreon, sometimes spelt Anakreon, was born in Teos, which is located in Asia Minor. Born in 541 B.C. and died around the age of 85. There was a rumor that he died by choking on the pit of a grape, but this is only a rumor and can not be considered to be the actual cause of his death.

Anacreon's writings were influenced by the Polykratean style, meaning that much of his work was friendly and erotic. Anacreon also favored the use of irony in his poems along with his playful nature and classical writing style. This can be seen in the poem "The Vision of Love" when he states, "he no longer lets me run down warm women / as in my doghood days:" (Barnstone, 1927, p.123) This line shows Anacreon's youthful playfulness in the sense that he would fly around with the gods and fondle the women. The poem "On an Old Lover" shows more evidence of Anacreon's obsession with sex and his erotic fantasy with the god Eros. "Eros, the blonde god of lovers, / strikes me with a purple ball / and asks me to play with a girl Ð'... but the girl is from beautiful / Lesbosand scorns my white hair, / and turning her back runs gaping / behind another girl." (Barnstone, 1927, p.123) This could be interpreted by Eros attempting to bring together Anacreon and who might be an old lover of his. This is an appropriate prediction because the title of the poem suggests it is true. From these examples it is obvious to the fact that Anacreon is a man of love and sex, and therefore it would come out in his writings.

Anacreon has shown that he was fluently interested with his basic instinct with women and to procreate. However, his love was not only directed for the women as we can see in the poem "Charioteer". Anacreon states "O sweet boy like a girl, / I see you though you will not look my way. / You are unaware that you handle the reins / of my soul." (Barnstone, 1927, p.125) This could mean that Anacreon may have felt the urge for women but have fallen in love with a man. This is not uncommon in the times as a man would love other men frequently and only have a mistress to carry on the family. One could conclude from reading Anacreon's poems that he was obviously a very sexual man but felt love along with his basic instinct to procreate. The theme for most of his poetry was based around these feelings.

Solon was another ancient Greek poet to produce sophisticated literature for his time. Living in Athens, Solon was involved with the town, and was a member of the Athenian aristocracy. He started to produce his poetry around 600 B.C. Since he was into politics and was so involved with the town, it came out in his poetry. Writings about war, laws, and wealth were common mediums that surfaced. Eventually Solon was elected to be an Archon and was therefore granted democratic powers. He accomplished much after his election including the erasing outstanding debts, creating a counsel of 400 people, and made laws.

This power showed in his poem "Civil Wars in Attica" when he shows his sympathy in the lines "I know it, and sorrow lives in my heart / that the oldest land of Ionia is burning". (Barnstone, 1927, p.99) Even though he is a man of war and politics he still feels empathy for those who he has conquered. Wealth was an obvious influence on his poetry because much of his work would involve the use of money. Whereas one could measure wealth in gold and silver, Solon thought differently. Although money was an important aspect of his work, he believed that family and how one lived their life was more important. This is proved in the last lines of his poem "Indifference to Wealth" where he stated "No one goes down / to Hades with fabulous belongings. / Even ransom will not spare him from repugnant / disease, evil old age and death." (Barnstone, 1927, p.99) One last example of how Solon's work was greatly exposed in his poetry is in the very short poem titled, "Lesson in Citizenship", which briefly states how he feels about the laws. He wrote "You must obey the law of the land, / whether you think it right or wrong." (Barnstone, 1927, p.100) Not only was he talking about the laws that he made himself but the law of nature or the land as he states. So not only was Solon a poet, he was a politician, and a war advisor, truly a renaissance man.

Simonides, from the island of Keos, was born in 556 B.C. and died in the town of Sicily in 468/7 B.C. There were rumors that he was an unattractive man and had issues in his finance. Simonides writings were mainly based upon death and death in battle.

Many of his poems are dedicated to the mean at war and have died defending their city. This can be shown in his poem "Men of the Front Ranks" in the lines, "For they made their choice / to leave their children in a country green / and sweet with freedom, / and died for this in the wild ranks of battle."