by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AT, BU, CO, EL, LA, LO, NI, OL, SA, SO, SP, TH, VI
They Loved Sovereignty and Liberty Most “And the Lacedæmonians offer sacrifices to Love before they go to battle, thinking that safety and victory depend on the friendship and those who stand side by side in the battle array. And the Cretans, in their line of battle,...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AC, AP, LO, TH, VE
The Sacred Fire Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The Thespians of Greece in ancient times Upheld the god of love, devout as saints Have ever been. Deep lovers’ paradigms Are never quite as true...
by phillipw | Jul 17, 2020 | BR, CO, GA, Ho, LO, SP, TH
The Night before Thermopylae— “The Hot Gates” “Phaedrus’s praise for erôs (love) as a precondition for courage employs poetic quotations from poems that in fact state that wisdom is the true precondition, and that erotic passion without thoughtfulness leads to...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | BE, EY, LI, PI, TH
Pindar on Theoxenus The poet Pindar focuses on love Derived from burning rays from flashing eyes Of young Theoxenus. They are above All others. Love in any other guise Is dimness at its best. The sun can melt The wax of bees, can sting it with its heat....
by phillipw | Jul 8, 2020 | HE, JO, OR, PL, TH
Invisible Ivory Music Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. ~ John Keats Herus Pamphilius claimed that Orpheus’s drifting soul, destined to be incarnated anew in some other physical form after he had died, elected to be born a swan so that he...
by phillipw | Jul 3, 2020 | LI, PL, TH
But What if I, when Speaking in my Own Voice, Make a False Representation of Myself? Elementary, My Dear Plato It seems that Plato means that if I speak Or write in poetry, but in my own Persona and my voice, that is not weak And dodgy like mimesis. In this clone Of...
