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    The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets
    Unavailable
    The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets
    Unavailable
    The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets
    Ebook771 pages11 hours

    The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets

    By Michael Schmidt

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A dazzling literary exploration by acclaimed poet and critic Michael Schmidt, The First Poets brings to life the great Greek poets who gave our poetic tradition its first bearings and whose works have had an enduring influence on our literature and our imagination.

    Starting with the legendary Orpheus and the possibly mythical Homer, Schmidt conjures a host of our literary forebears. From Hipponax, 'the dirty old man of poetry', to Theocritus, the father of pastoral; from Sappho, who threw herself from a cliff for love, to Hesiod, who claimed a visit from the Muses – the stories in The First Poets masterfully merge fact and conjecture into animated and compelling portraits of our cultural ancestors.

    'Every poet should buy a copy of this book to keep on their bookshelves. And, when the occasion arises, they should throw it at the cynic who may try to ignore or demean them' Independent.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHead of Zeus
    Release dateAug 11, 2016
    ISBN9781784975968
    Unavailable
    The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets
    Author

    Michael Schmidt

    Michael Schmidt was born in Mexico in 1947. He studied at Harvard and at Wadham College, Oxford. He is Professor of Poetry at Glasgow University, where he is convenor of the Creative Writing Programme. He is a founder (1969) and editorial and managing director of Carcanet Press Limited, and a founder (1972) and general editor of PN Review. An anthologist, translator, critic and literary historian, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and received an O.B.E. in 2006 for services to poetry.

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    • 3/5
      The short essays in this book lift the ancient Greek poets out of obscurity. Thus informed the reader may better enjoy the foundations of poetry for the culture of the West. The portraits presented here combine facts and scholarly conjecture to provide a background that informs understanding both the poetry and the culture of Ancient Greece. While scholarly, the essays will profit the attentive reader who shares the author's love of Classical Greece.
    • 5/5
      This is a fairly comprehensive survey including most important ancient Greek poets. It includes fairly even biographies of each poet, with some selection of their verses; although one would want to see more verses. But those included are typically given adequate explanations that help increase understanding of the poet. Each poet is covered in 10-15 pages. The book is useful both for learning and entertainment; also is a valuable reference tool.