Jean-Marc Nattier
Thalia, The Muse of Comedy
1739
Those Images
William Butler Yeats (1938)
What if I bade you leave
The cavern of the mind?
There’s better exercise
In the sunlight and wind.
I never bade you go
To Moscow or to Rome.
Renounce that drudgery,
Call the Muses home.
Seek those images
That constitute the wild,
The lion and the virgin,
The harlot and the child.
Find in middle air
An eagle on the wing,
Recognize the fire
That make the Muses sing.
In Greek mythology, the Muses are nine Greek goddesses of the arts and sciences. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, they are the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. The Muses inspired artists, musicians and poets. The word muse is used figuratively to denote someone who inspires an artist.
The next time you are creating call in one of the muses. Search the Internet for depictions of the Muse who you feel most related to. Light a candle. Say her name three times. And allow her to guide you. Suspend disbelief.
The Nine Muses
Euterpe (music) Meaning rejoicing well or delight. She was the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Called the Giver of Pleasure, she was the muse of music. In late Classical Greek times she was named muse of lyric poetry and depicted holding a flute. She invented the double-flute. The river Strymon impregnated her; her son Rhesus was killed by Diomedes at Troy.
Calliope (epic poetry) means beautiful voice. She was the muse for epic poetry. She had two sons, Orpheus and Linus with Apollo. She was the oldest and wisest of the Muses. She was the judge in the argument over Adonis between Aphrodite and Persephone. She was represented by a stylus and wax tablets.
Clio (history) was the Muse of heroic poetry and history. She had one son, Hyacinth, with the King of Macedonia, Pierus. She was represented with a parchment scroll or a set of tablets. She is also known as the Proclaimer.
Erato (lyric poetry) means lovely. She was represented with a lyre. She was the Muse of lyric poetry and hymns. With Arcas, she had one son: Azan.
Melpomene (tragedy) (“choir”) was means choir. She is represented with a tragic mask and wearing the cothurnus, boots traditionally worn by tragic actors. She often holds a knife or club in one hand and the tragic mask in the other.
Polyhymnia (sacred poetry) means many songs. She was the Muse of sacred hymn and eloquence. She is a very serious woman, pensive and meditative. She is often depicted holding a finger to her mouth, dressed in a long cloak and veil and resting her elbow on a pillar.
Terpsichore (dancing) rules over dance and the dramatic chorus. She is usually depicted sitting down, holding a lyre. She is sometimes said to be the mother of the Sirens by Achelous and the mother of Linus by Apollo.
Thalia (comedy) means good cheer and to bloom. She was the muse of comedy and pastoral poetry. She was a rural goddess with the attributes of a comic mask and a shepherd’s crook.
Urania (astronomy) means heavenly. She was the muse of astronomy and astrology. She was the mother of Linus by Apollo. She is usually depicted as having a globe in her left hand and a peg in the right.
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