Muse Essays

  • The Muse

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    He drew himself back then, back when he was happy, back when his muse was with him. He drew until exhaustion took over. His vision began to fade as he fell unconscious, black seeping into his eyes until sight was obscured completely. This was when he was happy, when he was able to remember. It was hazy and foggy but at least she was there even if he was forgetting her face. She could never abandon him here. It was him and his muse, nobody and nothing could get in his way. With a final glance at

  • The Muses of Greek mythology

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Muses are the Greek goddesses who preside over the arts and sciences and inspire those who excel at these pursuits. Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. They were the personification of poetic inspiration which hypothetically drifted itself into the poet's mind. The Muses of Greek mythology had one of the most important functions of all, which was to inspire poets and promote the arts and sciences. The fortunate person inspired by them was praised amongst everyone and were viewed

  • Muse or Method?

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Muse or Method? My eyes cast a casual glance towards the clock across the room as I sit back down at my desk. With caffeine reinforcements at hand, namely the signature red, white, and blue can of Diet Pepsi I just pulled from the fridge, I quickly put away the mound of books that has grown since I came in the room at 4:00. After making a hasty mental check to reassure myself I am prepared for the next day of class, I review my lesson plans one last time, sit back, relax, and ponder just exactly

  • Greek Mythology: The Nine Muses

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Muses The nine Muses were Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. They were the daughters of Zeus, the King of Gods, and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Some say that after Pegasus, the winged horse, kicked a rock on Mount Helicon, the Muses were born in the four sacred springs that gushed out of the crevice. Above the clouds, covering the divine mountain peaks of Mount Olympus and Mount Helicon, the Muses dwelled. They reigned over the liberal and

  • Comparing Constantly Risking Absurdity and Betting on the Muse

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    on the Muse," by Charles Bukowski Poetry is the most compressed form of literature, which should be read slowly and savored attentively. Poets employ different poetic techniques to convey their ideas, opinions, and express their feelings. Some poems can be understood easily while others seam vague. But whatever they are, they all contain some common elements of poetry such as theme, figurative language, and tone, etc. ¡§Constantly risking absurdity and death¡¨ and ¡§betting on the muse¡¨ are two

  • Poems Inspired by Paintings: The Disquieting Muses

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    one of the many writers who fell exceptional of such a piece; she decided to use the same title for her poem. "The Disquieting Muses" was painted by Giorgio de Chirico and later on the painting encouraged Plath to write a poem, using the same title. These two pieces of art differ from one another, but acquire a special similarity. In the literature piece "The Disquieting Muses" the speaker opens the stanza with such anger towards her mother for allowing three women, who are unwanted by the speaker,

  • Ellen Olenska as a Mythological Muse in The Age of Innocence

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ellen Olenska as a Mythological Muse in The Age of Innocence Long ago in ancient Greece, mythology was used to explain our world, our lives, and most importantly, our interpersonal relationships. Still today Greek mythology is infused into the literature of almost every influential and lasting author, one of the more effective authors being Edith Wharton, author of The Age of Innocence. The relationship between Newland Archer and Madame Ellen Olenska, two protagonists in Wharton’s novel, is an example

  • Windsor-Hall: Analysis of Pope and Leapor

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    invocation of a muse, the use of language to generate emotion, and the use of symbolism to impose some bigger picture. There is irony between the two as Pope uses negatively to embellish beauty and Leapor uses beauty and imagination to mask slavery. In Pope’s Windsor-Forest, following traditional heroic, the speaker invokes a muse: “Granville commands; your aid O Muses bring! / What Muse for Granville can refuse?” (Windsor-Forest 5-6). This invocation is interesting because the muse is commanded and

  • Comparing William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 130

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare, are two of the most well known Shakespeare sonnets. Both are similar in theme, however, the two poems are very much contradictory in style, purpose, and the muse to who Shakespeare is writing. Both Sonnets have different styles. Sonnet 18 is a much more traditional poem, showing the reader a picture of his muse in the most divine way. Shakespeare uses a complex metaphor of comparing his subject to the summer, but at the same time making it easy to understand. The poet goes as traditional

  • Analysis Of Sappho's Tithonus Poem

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sappho’s Tithonus poem bears an interesting duality of historical and literary relevance. Within this essay I focus on the relationship between Sappho and her audience as well as her use of myth, bearing in mind historical context and literary language, and structure. Sappho’s historical background is limited, with scant concrete evidence as to how her poems were performed, what her life was like or what type of relationship she had with her peers. The generally accepted theory is that her ‘circle’

  • Sappho And Archilochus

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    god of war, and on versed in the Muses’ lovely gifts” (Archilochus Elegies fr. 1W). As Dr. Heller notes, “A good poet was thought to be inspired by divinity—either by the Muses, by Apollo, or simply by “god” unspecified. The process was described as “inspiration,” wherein the gods “breathe into” a poet a “voice” or “honey-sweet song.” (“Greek Lyric Overview” ). Archilochus wore this persona as well, believed to have gone through an initiation brought on by the muses (Heller “Greek Lyric Overview”)

  • Figurative Language In Anne Bradstreet's 'The Prologue'

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    keep her working only in the home. She also uses synecdoche to show the envy the speaker has of the great poet Bartas when she says, “But when my wond’ring eyes and envious heart / Great Bartas’ sugared lines do but read o’er, / Fool I do grudge the Muses did not part / ’Twixt him and me that overfluent store” (7-10). The words of Bartas speak to her very heart. Poetry had an intense effect on the speaker, causing her to long for even a small portion of the talent given to

  • Deference and Reference of Authorship in Dictee

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    The back cover of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee describes the book as “A classic work of autobiography that transcends the self.” This phrase is self-contradictory. The Oxford English Dictionary defines autobiography as “an account of a person’s life given by himself or herself.” If it is indeed an autobiography, Dictee is unorthodox, because it discusses the accounts of several other people instead of focusing only on the author. Moreover, the variety of media in Dictee multiples the book’s unusualness

  • Use of Heroism in Epic Poems found in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    on the conventions of epic poems in order to satirize Gatsby’s characterization in the novel. Like epic poets, Fitzgerald recounts the deeds of his hero objectively. In epic poetry the muse, impartially, tells a story of a hero so others can know of his greatness. In The Great Gatsby, Nick is acting as our muse. He says, “[He’s] inclined to reserve all judgments”, so as to give himself authority as the author (1). Making Nick an impartial narrator is supposed to legitimize Gatsby’s actions. The

  • Ovid's Metamorphoses Changes

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    These punishments are detrimental to the characters in Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Two such punishments are told during the competition between the Muses and the daughters of Pierus. During the Muses’ song, Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry, mentions Ascalaphus’ punishment by Prosperina. Ascalaphus witnessed Prosperina eat pomegranet seeds and his testimony made it impossible for her to leave the underworld. As punishment, Prosperina

  • Poetic Tools Describe Life in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Odyssey. All of these tools can be seen within the lines of his lengthy poem of fifty-two sections "Song of Myself." The first of these tools include an invocation of the muse, as can be seen in the lines "I loafe and invite my soul," which appears to be an invocation of a muse, or his own soul which may also be his muse. Another tool used is cataloguing, throughout this poem Whitman incorporates many descriptions and images that he lists in a catalogue form. Another typical epic tool is that

  • Satiation in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing World

    2795 Words  | 6 Pages

    that satiation. Milton begins at the middle of his epic with an appeal to music, a universal and fulfilling language, “Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing Heavenly Muse” (I.5-6).He immediately places us after the fall and takes us beyond sentience with an invocation to a muse, only this muse is beyond all muses and this epic is above all epics: I thence Invoke thy aid to my advent’rous song,That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th’ Aonian mount, while it pursues Things

  • Femininity in Homer’s Iliad

    1888 Words  | 4 Pages

    of the actions and decisions of the women in the poem, but rather a conceptual, creative feminine force without which the poem and even human life would not exist. Homer personifies this presence in nature and maintains it through the voice of the Muse, his inspiration. There is a deeper essence of a feminine presence in the poem, however, which lies in the characteristics of life itself. It is the woman who gives birth to the heroes and therefore she is the first to bring her child to life and to

  • There's a Stranger in my Words

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    the "common coin of the realm" at colleges and Universities._ I could sit here and write puffed up, stagnant, and wordy paragraph after paragraph, and still hold the interest of many of my instructors. But that is not my desire...I seek to free my muse from the shackles of formulae, the bondage of format, and the unrelenting ambiguity of "the same old stuff." When does your _voice_, that engaging part of your writing which bridges topic and audience, become sensible and engaging? Is it when

  • An Explication of Washing Day

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    reader detects a feeling of melancholy. The opening line "The Muses are turned gossips" immediately creates a negative tone. Muses (inspirations) are usually thought of as being good and uplifting, here they are being turned into something that is generally thought of as being bad. As the poem continues, a sense of sarcasm can be detected at the end of the author's reference to this day. She details the way the women ("domestic Muse") come from where they live in a most woeful way "prattling