Long after the Greek religion ceased to have worshipers, the concept of the muses continued to have meaning for some. In the sixteenth century we see two contrasting views. On the one hand Julius Scaliger speaks of the muses as a present reality and a valid way of understanding the source of inspiration. On the other hand, we have the British poet Sir Philip Sidney who rejects the concept of the muses and says that inspiration lies within the poet himself. Why do you think Scaliger, and presumably others, continued to give credence to the concept of the muses? Obviously, he did not worship Zeus, or the rest of the Greek gods, so why continue to rely on the concept of the muse? Likewise, why did Sidney reject them?
Scaliger brings sense to the Muses in the time of the church by writing about the poets adding a third muse, Memory. How can poets, or anyone, add a muse if they are divine beings? I think he was transitioning the belief in gods and muses, just as the church transitioned pagan holidays and goddesses and god over to saints and such.
Scaliger writes in his 1561 Poetics, “So, through those arts whereby they render themselves immoral, they immortalize those whom they celebrate in their verse” (Scaliger 37). I think the continued giving of credibility of this concept of muses is, in part, because of Sappho’s poem, To One Who Loved not Poetry.
Thou liest dead, and there will be no memory left behind Of thee or thine in all the earth, for never didst thou bind The roses of Pierian streams upon thy brow; thy doom Is
now to flit with unknown ghosts in cold and nameless gloom. (Sappho Translated by Edwin Arnold)
Scaliger classifies the “divinely possessed” poets into two classes, those who “…no mental effort on their part except the simple invocation… The other class aroused by the fumes of unmixed wine…” (39).
The “non-artist” depends on the artist to be their voice when they cannot find the words or images to convey their days. Katherine Yurica states in her article: the poets among us, are the bearers of spiritual wisdom and insights, born out of the womb of civilization itself… it is time for the poets and artists to come forward, bearing their crosses and staffs of redemption, carrying their brushes, pens and lap-tops, for Americans and the people of the world are waiting to hear from the seers, the true prophets and the spiritually developed among us. (Yurica)
Why did Sidney reject them? I don’t think he “rejected” the theory of “divine gift,” or the belief in the Muses. Sidney’s Sonnet 1, second stanza is very telling on Sidney’s’ own efforts when he, “…sought fit words…” (Sidney 41). He writes in stanza three of, “…wanting Invention’s stay…” (41) and in stanza four he writes, “‘Fool,’ said my muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write’” (41). He is confessing he is not one who writes through the muse’s inspiration, lacking that “gift” he must rely on his education to create the poem.
In Sonnet 3 he states that “the sisters nine” “mask’d their fancies” (41) In stanza three he admits the muses are notwith him, “For me, in sooth, no Muse but one I know…But copying…” (42). In Sidney’s Sonnet 70 he again complains that “My muse may well grudge at my heav’nly joy…” (42) He writes of “forcing” her, which one cannot do. He invites, imploring his muse to “come” and “show” and in his last lines in stanza four he almost begs the muse to stay and offers her, “I give you here my hand…”
Works Cited
Sappho Translated by Edwin Arnold, 1893. Poem of Quotes. 2013. Poem. 15 7 2014.
Scaliger, Julius Caesar. Poetics. 1561. Document.
Sidney, Sir Philip. "Astrophil and Stella." 1591.
Yurica, Katherine. Yurica Report. 2006. Document. 14 7 2014.