ERATO
(AIR-uh-toh)
Greek
Muse of lyric and love poetry Common
clues:
Muse
of poetry; Muse with a lyre; Poet's inspiration; Sappho's muse;
Sister of Clio; Sister of Calliope; Daughter of Zeus; Lyric muse;
One of nine sisters Crossword
puzzle frequency:
once a month Frequency
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50552 / 86800 Video: My
Muse
Erato
(passionate) was the Greek Muse of lyric and love poetry. She
was the most famous of the Muses. She is usually depicted
holding a lyre and wearing a crown of roses.
In
Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι,
Mousai)
are nine archaic goddesses who embody the right evocation of
myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and
traditional music and dances.
They were water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon
and Pieris. The Olympian system set Apollo as their leader,
Apollon
Mousagetes.
According
to Hesiod's Theogony,
they are the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne,
goddess of memory. For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more
primordial, springing from Uranus and Gaia.
Compare
the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the Camenae.
According
to Pausanias there were three original Muses: Aoide ("song",
"voice"), Melete ("practice" or "occasion")
and Mneme ("memory") (Paus. 9.29.1). Together, they
form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in
cult
practice.
The
canonical nine Muses are:
Euterpe
(music)
Calliope
(epic poetry)
Clio
(history)
Erato
(lyric poetry)
Melpomene
(tragedy)
Polyhymnia
(sacred poetry)
Terpsichore
(dancing)
Thalia
(comedy)
Urania
(astronomy)
Together,
they form a complete picture of the subjects proper to poetic art
in the archaic period. However, the association of specific muses
with specific art forms is a later innovation, and has been
called pedantic.
In
Roman, Renaissance and Neoclassical art, Muses depicted in
sculptures or paintings are often distinguished by certain props
or poses, as emblems. Euterpe (music) carries a flute; Calliope
(epic poetry) carries a writing tablet; Clio (history) carries a
scroll and books; Erato (lyric poetry) is often seen with a lyre
and a crown of roses; Melpomene (tragedy) is often seen with a
tragic mask; Polyhymnia (sacred poetry) is often seen with a
pensive expression; Terpsichore (dancing) is often seen dancing
and carrying a lyre; Thalia (comedy) is often seen with a comic
mask; and Urania (astronomy) carries a staff pointed at a
celestial globe.
The muses are
typically invoked at or near the beginning of an epic poem or
story. They have served as aid to an author, or as the true
speaker for which an author is only a mouthpiece. Originally the
invocation of the Muse was an indication that the speaker was
working inside the poetic tradition, according to the established
formulae.
Two
classic examples: Homer, Book I of the Odyssey:
"Tell
me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero
who
travelled far and wide
after
he had sacked the famous town of Troy."
...
And Dante Alighieri, in Canto II of the Inferno:
O
Muses, o high genious, aid me now!
O
memory that noted what I saw,
Now
shall your true nobility be seen!
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Muse".
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