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KamilaKowalczyk
UniversityofSilesia,Katowice
PoeticInspirationinHomer’sIliadandOdyssey
Abstract:Theconceptofpoeticinspiration1fundamentaltoancientpoetics,wasforcenturies
foundedontheimageofapoetasanunconsciousvesselfortheMuses.However,noevidenceofan
actualpossessionwastobefoundinworksofarchaicpoets,suchasHomer,HesiodorPindar.The
textofIliadandOdysseyshowthattherelationbetweenanartistandthegoddessisofanintellectual
nature,andthatthesetwointeractonmanydifferentlevels.TheMuse,stirsthebardtosing,supplies
himwith‘divine’knowledge,assistshimwheneveraneedarises.But,atthesametime,leaveshim
enoughfreedomwhenitcomestothecompositionofthepoem.
Keywords:poeticinspiration,theMuses,Homer,Iliad,Odyssey
PlatowritesinLaws:“Thereis…anancientsaying1constantlyrepeated
byourselvesandendorsedbyeveryoneelse1thatwheneverthepoetis
seatedontheMuse’stripod,heis,notinhissenses,butresemblesafountain,which
givesfreecoursetotheupwardrushofwater”1.Thispassageconveysapowerful
imageofthepoetasapassiveinstrumentofsomesupernaturalforce,deprivedof
anycontroloverwhatheisactuallysaying,becoming,thus,incapableofexplain-
ingeitherthesource,orthemeaningofhispoetry2.However,recentstudiesof
theworksofHomer,HesiodandPindar,tonameonlythesethreeauthors,have
shown,thatnoneofthemdescribedthepoetasμαντίκόg,orἐKσtOtίKόg(adjec-
1Plato:Laws,719C.
2Theideaofa‘possessed’poetcanbefoundthroughoutPlato’sdialoguese.g.Menon,Ion,
Phaedrus;andincontemporarystudiesonthesubject:E.R.Dodds:TheGreekandtheIrrational.
Berkeley1951;D.A.Russell:CriticisminAntiquity.London1981;E.Mueller:Geschichteder
TheoriederKunstbeidenAltens.Breslau1834;W.Kranz:„DasVerhältnisderSchöpferszu
seinemWerkinderaltgriechischenLiteratur“.NeueJahrbücherfurdas„KlasischeAltertum“1924,
27;A.Sperduti:“TheDivineNatureofPoetryinAntiquity”.TAPA1950,Vol.81,pp.2091240.
