GREEK POETRY PASSAGE
Now it’s time to put some of this together. Take about three minutes to read the following passage. Then take about four
minutes to answer the questions that follow. Answers are at the end of the chapter.
The poems of the earliest Greeks, like those of
other ancient societies, consisted of magical charms,
mysterious predictions, prayers, and traditional
songs of work and war. These poems were intended
( 5 ) to be sung or recited, not written down, since they
were created before the Greeks began to use writing
for literary purposes. All that remains of them are
fragments mentioned by later Greek writers. Homer,
for example, quoted an ancient work-song for
( 10 )harvesters, and Simonides adapted the ancient poetry
of ritual lamentation, songs of mourning for the dead,
in his writing.
The different forms of early Greek poetry all had
something in common: They described the way of life
( 15 )of a whole people. Poetry expressed ideas and feelings
that were shared by everyone in a community—
their folktales, their memories of historical events,
their religious speculation. The poems were wholly
impersonal, with little emphasis on individual
( 20 )achievement. It never occurred to the earliest Greek
poets to tell us their names or to try to create anything
completely new.
In the “age of heroes,” however, the content and
purpose of Greek poetry changed. By this later period,
( 25 )Greek communities had become separated into classes
of rulers and ruled. People living in the same community
therefore had different, even opposed, interests; they
shared fewer ideas and emotions. The particular outlook
of the warlike upper class gave poetry a new content,
( 30 )one that focused on the lives of individuals. Poets were
assigned a new task: to celebrate the accomplishments
of outstanding characters, whether they were real or
imaginary, rather than the activity and history of the
community.
