All Poets
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
Lucan
3 - 30 CE
Author of "De Bello Civile" ("On the Civil War"), also known as the Pharsalia.
De Bello Civile Book 1, lines 125 - 157
Pompey the oak and Caesar the thunderbolt
Quis iustius induit arma
Lucan introduces the combatants at the beginning of his poem on the civil war
De Bello Civile Book 1, lines 213 - 234
Caesar crosses the Rubicon
Fonte cadit modico, parvisque impellitur undis
Caesar crosses the Rubicon
De Bello Civile Book 1, lines 356 - 391
Caesar’s Centurion pledges loyalty
Summi tunc munera pili
Lessons in loyalty and daring from an old campaigner
Lucretius
c. 99 - c. 55 BCE
Lucretius wrote De Rerum Natura, a work exploring cosmology, physics and theology in order to explain and justify the philosophical basis for Epicureanism.
De Rerum Natura, lines 1.44 - 1.48 and 3.894 - 911
Lucretius’s consolation
omnis enim per se divum natura necessest
Lucretius offers the rational view of grief and fear
Marcel Proust
1871 - 1922
From “À la Recherche du Temps Perdu”
Saint-Loup of the Brazen Helm
M. Bloch souffrait beaucoup des mensonges de son oncle
Young Bloch and his Homeric turn of phrase
Milton
1608 - 1674
England's great 17th-century epic poet.
Paradise Lost Book 1, lines 1 - 26
Paradise Lost begins
Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
The opening lines of Milton's great epic
Ovid
43BC - c.18CE
Ovid built a glittering career as the fashionable poet of Love and mythology, but made an enemy of the Emperor Augustus and died around 18 CE after a long and unhappy exile. Meet him at Pantheon Poets.
Ovid Amores Book 2. 12
Ovid’s triumph
Ite triumphales circum mea tempora laurus
Ovid congratulates himself on success with Corinna
Amores, Book 3.14
Ovid’s broad-minded advice to his mistress
Sit tibi mens melior
Kiss, but don't tell!
Metamorphoses Book 1, lines 466-76 and 525-67
Apollo and Daphne
inpiger umbrosa Parnasi constitit arce
To escape Apollo, Daphne becomes a laurel tree
Metamorphoses Book 2, lines 150 - 177
Phaethon
Occupat ille levem juvenali corpore currum
Phaethon's ride in the chariot of the Sun begins.
Metamorphoses Book 2, lines 178 - 216
Phaethon, continued
Ut vero summo despexit ab aethere terras
Phaethon's disastrous ride in the chariot of the Sun continues
Metamorphoses Book 2, lines 301 - 332
Phaethon, concluded
Dixerat haec Telllus: neque enim tolerare vaporem
Jupiter's intervention finally brings Phaethon's disastrous chariot-ride to a close
Metamorphoses Book 2, lines 843 - 875
Europa and the bull
dixit, et expulsi iamdudum monte iuvenci
The story of Europa
Metamorphoses book 4, lines 169-189
Venus and Mars
Hunc quoque, siderea qui temperat omnia luce
Adultery in heaven
Ovid Metamorphoses Book 4, lines 449-56; 473-78; 481-511
The Fury Tisiphone
Quo simul intravit sacroque a corpore pressum
Juno orders the Furies to destroy the house of Cadmus
Metamorphoses Book 6, Lines 103 - 145
Minerva and Arachne have a weaving contest
Maeonis elusam designat imagine tauri Europam
The mortal Arachne versus the Goddess Minerva
Metamorphoses Book 6, lines 382 - 400
The flaying of Marsyas
Sic ubi nescio quis Lycia de gente virorum
A terrible punishment for a musical offence
Metamorphoses Book 8, Lines 200 - 235
Daedalus and Icarus
postquam manus ultima coepto inposita est
The story of Daedalus and Icarus
Metamorphoses Book 8, Lines 738 - 779
The sacrilege of Erysichthon
Nec minus Autolyci coniunx, Erysichthone nata
Erysichthon's sacrilege
Metamorphoses Book 8, Lines 780 - 816
Ceres takes revenge
Attonitae dryades damno nemorumque suoque
Fames, the personification of famine and hunger
Metamorphoses Book 8, lines 817 - 845
Erysichthon the Glutton
Dicta Fames Cereris, quamvis contraria semper
Hunger invades the blasphemer, Erysichthon
Metamorphoses Book 8, lines 846 - 884
Erysichthon’s end
Iamque fame patrias altaque voragine ventris
Erysichthon's horrible end
Metamorphoses book 10, lines 23 - 63
Orpheus and Eurydice
Causa viae est coniunx, in quam calcata venenum
The great singer and his doomed love
Metamorphoses Book 11, Lines 100 - 128
The Midas touch
Huic deus optandi gratum, sed inutile, fecit muneris arbitrium
Midas and the golden touch
Metamorphoses Book 12, lines 39 - 63
The House of Rumour
Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque
As the Trojan War becomes imminent, rumour is rife.
Metamorphoses Book 13, lines 789 - 869
The Cyclops in Love
Candidior folio nivei, Galatea, ligustri
A Cyclops serenades his love
Owen
1893 - 1918
The famous English poet writing about the realities of the first World War.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori ... ?
Petronius
c. 27-c. 66 CE
Petronius was the Emperor Nero’s “arbiter of elegance” until he fell out of favour and died by an elaborate suicide in or around 66 CE.
Petronius 28
Kissing is better than sex
Foeda est in coitu et brevis voluptas
Kissing is better than sex, says Petronius