SELF-PORTRAITURE
Part 1:
That least systematic and most occasional Roman poet, Horace(65 BC-8 BC), explores the pathological nature of desire. Horace also presents himself and his views of poetry in his poems but, for the most part, the presentation is carefully controlled and creates a poetic fiction open to manipulation and change.
The pathological nature of desire had, and still has, a proud and not so proud tradition going back to Homer and the archaic lyric of a previous Formative Age. Desire in this pathological sense is seen as something external to lovers, an affliction that comes upon them against their will. Love rushes upon them; they are burned; they suffer unquenchable desire for a brilliantly gleaming woman or some strikingly handsome man. The act of looking becomes, in part, a substitute for sexual penetration. This theme and this experience continues into our own time.–Ron Price with thanks to Elizabeth H. Sutherland, "How (Not) To Look At A Woman: Bodily Encounters and the Failure of the Gaze in Horace's Carmina. Liber 1. 19," American Journal of Philology, Volume 124, Number 1, Spring 2003.
Part 2:
The centre did not hold for you
or for your world, Horace,
that old world was dieing fast
and the old ideas and systems
were no help, society shredded.
Something was being saved
from the wreck of the times,
from the wasteland, from the
disintegration as you held up
the mirror in your mode, manner,
your autobiographical presence.
You had absolutely no idea that
a saviour would soon be born.
In your poetry of self-portraiture,
your construction of the present
you questioned it all. Most still
have no idea of the new saviour
who has come and gone even with
directness of this self-portraiture--
where it is impossible to miss.
Ron Price
November 14th 2005
Part 1:
That least systematic and most occasional Roman poet, Horace(65 BC-8 BC), explores the pathological nature of desire. Horace also presents himself and his views of poetry in his poems but, for the most part, the presentation is carefully controlled and creates a poetic fiction open to manipulation and change.
The pathological nature of desire had, and still has, a proud and not so proud tradition going back to Homer and the archaic lyric of a previous Formative Age. Desire in this pathological sense is seen as something external to lovers, an affliction that comes upon them against their will. Love rushes upon them; they are burned; they suffer unquenchable desire for a brilliantly gleaming woman or some strikingly handsome man. The act of looking becomes, in part, a substitute for sexual penetration. This theme and this experience continues into our own time.–Ron Price with thanks to Elizabeth H. Sutherland, "How (Not) To Look At A Woman: Bodily Encounters and the Failure of the Gaze in Horace's Carmina. Liber 1. 19," American Journal of Philology, Volume 124, Number 1, Spring 2003.
Part 2:
The centre did not hold for you
or for your world, Horace,
that old world was dieing fast
and the old ideas and systems
were no help, society shredded.
Something was being saved
from the wreck of the times,
from the wasteland, from the
disintegration as you held up
the mirror in your mode, manner,
your autobiographical presence.
You had absolutely no idea that
a saviour would soon be born.
In your poetry of self-portraiture,
your construction of the present
you questioned it all. Most still
have no idea of the new saviour
who has come and gone even with
directness of this self-portraiture--
where it is impossible to miss.
Ron Price
November 14th 2005
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment