All Poets
Dante Alighieri
c. 1265 - 1321
One of the greatest Italian (and European) poets of the middle ages and successor to Virgil as a poet of the afterworld.
Inferno Canto 1 lines 61 - 85
Dante and Virgil meet
Mentre ch' io rovinava in basso loco
Dante and Virgil meet
Goethe
1749-1832
In addition to his great work founded on the traditions of German culture and folklore, he was strongly influenced by Latin poets and poetry, especially following a visit to Rome which made a deep impression on him in the 1780s.
Gottfried Keller
1819 - 1890
Nineteenth-century Swiss novelist, author of short stories and poet, writing in German.
Waldlied (Forest Song)
Arm in Arm und Kron' an Krone steht der Eichenwald verschlungen,
A fine Swiss poet uses ancient myth.
Gray
18th Century
Eighteenth century poet and scholar
Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
Eton College in the gateway to Orcus
Vestibulum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus Orci
Virgil's traces are visible in this eighteenth-century poet
Hardy
1840-1928
An unflinching chronicler of an unforgiving century in his novels, Hardy's compassion and humanity perhaps show through more clearly in his poems.
Proud songsters
The thrushes sing as the light is going
Hardy shares his sadness and his flair for nature
Henley
1849 - 1902
W E Henley, poet, critic and friend of R L Stevenson and J M Barrie
“A late lark” and “Madam Life”
Madam Life's a Piece in Bloom
Contrasting takes on death by the Victorian W E Henley
Homer
Eighth or seventh century BCE?
Author of the Iliad and the Odyssey and accepted in the ancient world as the greatest writer of epic.
Odyssey Book 1, lines 1-10
The Odyssey begins
ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, πολύτροπον,
Tell me, Muse, of the resourceful Odysseus
Iliad Book 1, lines 1-21
The Iliad begins
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
Sing O Muse of the wrath of Achilles
Iliad Book 6, lines 441 - 473
Andromache and Hector
Ἀνδρομάχη δέ οἱ ἄγχι παρίστατο δάκρυ χέουσα
Don't take risks, begs Andromache
Odyssey, Book 9, lines 182 - 215
The Cave of the Cyclops
ἔνθα δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχατιῇ σπέος εἴδομεν ἄγχι θαλάσσης
Odysseus and his companions find the cave of the Cyclops
Odyssey Book 9, lines 216-249
Enter the Cyclops
καρπαλίμως δ᾽ εἰς ἄντρον ἀφικόμεθ᾽, οὐδέ μιν ἔνδον
The wait for Polyphemus's arrival
Odyssey Book 9 , lines 250-335
The Ordeal in the Cave
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ σπεῦσε πονησάμενος τὰ ἃ ἔργα
The Cyclops shows his true colours
Odyssey Book 9, lines 336-414
The Blinding
ἑσπέριος δ᾽ ἦλθεν καλλίτριχα μῆλα νομεύων
Odysseus and his men fight back
Odyssey Book 9, lines 415-463
The Escape from the Cave
Κύκλωψ δὲ στενάχων τε καὶ ὠδίνων ὀδύνῃσι
Odysseus has blinded the Cyclops, but remains trapped in the cave
Odyssey, Book 9, lines 464-535
Polyphemus’s prayer
καρπαλίμως δὲ τὰ μῆλα ταναύποδα, πίονα δημῷ
Odysseus's fateful mistake
Odyssey, Book 9, lines 536-564
The Ithacans’ fate is sealed
Horace
65BCE - 8BCE
Horace, with Virgil, is one of the twin giants of poetry in the time of Augustus. While Virgil was taking the Greek tradition of epic poetry and giving it a new set of completely Roman clothes with the Aeneid, Horace was taking the Greek tradition of lyric poetry that was the established stock-in-trade for much non-epic Roman poetry, and giving it a new and distinctly Roman character.
Odes, 1.1
Horace’s first Ode
Maecenas atavis edite regibus
Horace dedicates his first Ode to his patron, Maecenas
Odes 1.2
Rome: disaster and salvation
Iam satis terris nivis atque dirae
Horace exalts Augustus, the saviour of Rome from civil war
Odes 1.3
Virgil’s perils on the sea
Sic te diva potens Cypri
Horace prays for a safe voyage for Virgil
Odes Book 1.4
Carpe diem, Sestius
Solvitur acris hiems grata vice veris et Favoni
The joys of spring are short, Sestius
Odes 1.9
Soracte
Vides ut alta stet nive candidum Soracte
Life is short – enjoy it while you are young
Odes 1.11
Gathering rosebuds: carpe diem
Tu ne quaesieris (scire nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi
Carpe diem
Horace Odes, Book 1.22
Horace, the wolf and the upright life
Integer vitae scelerisque purus
The upright life protects Horace from a wolf
Odes 1.34
A change of mind
Parcus deorum cultor et infrequens
Thunder from a clear sky shakes Horace's convictions
Odes 2.6
Tibur or Tarentum: a poet’s dilemma?
Septimi, Gadis aditure mecum
Tibur or Tarentum: a poet's dilemma?
Odes 2.7
Horace welcomes his army comrade
O saepe mecum tempus in ultimum
Horace welcomes his army comrade
Odes Book 2. 19
Horace’s reverence to Bacchus
Bacchum in remotis carmina rupibus
Horace's hymn to Bacchus
Odes 3.2
What Roman youth should be
Angustam amice pauperium pati
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Odes 3.5
Courage and decadence: the Regulus ode
Caelo tonantem credidimus Iovem regnare
Horace's Regulus ode
Odes 3.8
An invitation to Maecenas
Martiis caelebs quid agam kalendis
A fulsome compliment to Horace's patron Maecenas
Odes 3.20
The tug-of-war for Nearchus
Non vides quanto moveas periclo
Pyrrhus has a fight on his hands for Nearchus.
Odes 3.28
Celebrating Neptune’s feast day
Festo quid potius die festo Neptuni faciam?
Horace celebrates Neptune's feast day
Odes 3.30
Horace’s monument
Exegi monumentum aere perennius
Horace concludes the Odes - or so he thinks
Odes 4.2
Pindar and Augustus
Odes 4.7
Housman and Horace
Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet
The snows are fled away, leaves on the shaws
James Joyce
1882 - 1941
The character based on Joyce himself in his books is surnamed Dedalus, after the mythical master artist and maker of labyrinths: Joyce was both.
From "Pomes, Pennyeach"
Tilly
He travels after a winter sun
Joyce's feelings on the death of his mother
