Cultivating the Muse
Subtitle: Struggles for Power and Inspiration in Classical Literature
Contributors: Efrossini Spentzou (Editor); Don Fowler (Editor)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: April 27, 2002
Language: eng
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9780199240043
First sentence: 'From the Muses of Helicon let us begin our singing, that haunt Helicon's great and holy Mountain': overladen with symbolic nuances, Hesiod's encounter with the Muses as he was pasturing his sheep on Mount Helicon (Theog. 22-35) perfectly distils the Goddesses' essential character: allusive, elusive, and honoured with a leading position in poetic endeavour.