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Epic Poetry: Invocation of the Muse Prompt

By Heather Eure 20 Comments

invocation_of_the_muse

Invoking the Muse

An invocation begins the epic poem and serves as a prologue to the events to come. A prayer or address is made to one of the nine muses of Greco-Roman mythology. The poet asks for the inspiration, skill, knowledge, or the right emotion to finish a poem worthy of his subject matter.

Homer began his epic poems with an Invocation to the Muse. As you see in this invocation from The Odyssey, he asks for inspiration and a blessing for the retelling of the epic:

Speak, Memory –
Of the cunning hero
The wanderer, blown off course time and again
After he plundered Troy’s sacred heights.
Speak
Of all the cities he saw, the minds he grasped,
The suffering deep in his heart at sea
As he struggled to survive and bring his men home
But could not save them, hard as he tried –
The fools – destroyed by their own recklessness
When they ate the oxen of Hyperion the Sun,
And that god snuffed out their day of return
Of these things,
Speak, Immortal One,
And tell the tale once more in our time.

—Stanley Lombardo Translation (2000)

But what is a muse?

In Greek mythology, the nine muses are goddesses of various arts such as music, dance, and poetry. Their own giftedness in the arts were unparalleled and helped both gods and mankind to forget their troubles. They also inspired musicians and writers to strive to reach greater creative and intellectual heights. Greek writer Hesiod claimed in his work Theogony, to have spoken with the muses who blessed him with divine voice. A once simple shepherd became one of the great ancient poets at the pleasure of the gods.

Simple enough, right?

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For those of us who need a serious boost to get up and at ’em each morning, an invocation to the muse might just be the ticket. Pick your muse. Maybe it’s the classic Greek muse Calliope, or something a little more modern and standard like coffee. Write a brief poem based on Homer’s invocation above, but centered around the adventures of your day and the attributes of your muse.

Call in the muse!

Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here’s a poem from Glynn we enjoyed:

We started from a quiet place
a place of dusty streets and market stalls
noise on market days, noise of animals
and children playing

the world beckoned, its soul yearning

no armies did we lead
no armies did we need
no horses did we ride

an army of two, with sandals
an army of two, without swords

the wind went before us smoothing
our way to the towns and languages
to fields and sentinel farm houses

cities, and temples
cities, and rulers
cities, and governors
cities, and nobles and slaves and merchants
cities, and noise

we conquered with words and spirit
even our deaths conquered provinces
and kingdoms, hearts

from two on a road we found ourselves
leading hundreds and more, thousands
and more until the empire itself
fit within our hands, the greatest empire
before or since

we destroyed it, some say
we saved it, some say
we saved its soul, we say,
its souls, we say

—by Glynn Young

Photo by PS Lee. Creative Commons, via Flickr.

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Heather Eure
Heather Eure
Heather Eure has served as the Poetry Editor for the late Burnside Collective and Special Projects Editor for us at Tweetspeak Poetry. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems. Her wit has appeared just about everywhere she's ever showed up, and if you're lucky you were there to hear it.
Heather Eure
Latest posts by Heather Eure (see all)
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Filed Under: Blog, English Teaching Resources, Epic Poetry, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, Themed Writing Projects, writer's group resources, writing prompts

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Comments

  1. Suyash_J says

    September 14, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    http://reclusemuse.blogspot.com/2014/11/borrowed-scent.html

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 14, 2015 at 11:21 pm

      Thank you for sharing your poem with us! The rumination: “…I would grow my roses,/ In that wonderful rain of that golden year.” was striking.

      Reply
      • Sandra Heska King says

        September 17, 2015 at 7:21 am

        Slipping in here with a slice of raisin toast and a cup of tea, Suyash. It’s nice to “meet” you. 🙂

        Reply
  2. Monica Sharman says

    September 15, 2015 at 10:26 am

    Speak, gourd drum, ipu heke,
    From your carved-out hollows.
    Pound
    A story on ground and hands
    Of rains and trade winds finding green hills
    And blowholes under stark black rocks.
    Chant
    A song whose lyrics sing of both native pua
    and transplanted flower. What is her name who wore
    fragrant petals behind her right ear, and what is his name
    who moved it behind her left?
    Speak, Beating Heart,
    and tell your tales through my hands, hips, knees,
    the balls of my bare feet.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 16, 2015 at 7:28 am

      Wonderful, Monica! Way to invoke. “…tell your tales through my hands, hips, knees…”

      Reply
  3. RickMaxson says

    September 15, 2015 at 12:41 pm

    Invocation of the Moon

    In this new room,
    the clutter is gone.

    The books with their flags,
    are stacked neatly on shelves.

    I sit on the floor
    and watch the carpet of moon

    dance over the clean slate
    floor down the hallway,

    nothing to stop its rolling,
    shadowless and cool.

    Sit with me a while Luna,
    give me your sheer light,

    your magic in my glass
    of wine—a word, a line;

    leave the argentine night,
    torn on the bare trees.

    Like the leaves, I drift,
    watching the dim spines,

    filled with keen energy,
    while all my songs are sleeping.

    Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 16, 2015 at 7:32 am

      “Your magic in my glass of wine–” What’s not to love in this poem? You’ve wooed the moon.

      Reply
    • juliea says

      September 21, 2015 at 12:48 am

      I love
      “Sit with me a while Luna,
      give me your sheer light,

      your magic in my glass
      of wine—a word, a line;

      . . . Like the leaves, I drift,
      . . . while all my songs are sleeping.

      How many times have I sat and nothing has come forth, yet many times so much-and I never write it down.

      Reply
  4. Andrew H says

    September 16, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    Musing

    I long to make the meter dance
    And twirl on chords of bardic joy –
    With such a skill, I’d paint in words
    Of gods and how they fought for Troy.

    Grant unto me, oh spectral one
    The grace my fathers knew-
    Make every note shine like the sun,
    Let each chord ring out true!

    For long I’ve spent in quiet hope
    Of something that I can’t express.
    Where is the greater scope
    That comes with your caress?

    Do not shy from mortality!
    It makes my inner furnace burn,
    And with its flame I’ll forge a song
    If only you would come along

    And hold my hand, that shining light
    Would make me seem a bird
    Who trills unconscious songs
    Which Homer near the Aegean heard.

    I need this, muse of ancient myth,
    For if you deign to be my flame
    I’ll use my pens to craft a song
    The like of which will never come again.

    Reply
    • Sandra Heska King says

      September 17, 2015 at 7:25 am

      “I long to make the meter dance.” I especially like that line cuz me, too. 🙂

      Welcome, Andrew. If you’ve been here before, I might have been in the back washing dishes. 😉

      Reply
      • Andrew H says

        September 17, 2015 at 12:34 pm

        Haha, thank you! I’ve made one other post in the Circus prompt, but understandable if you missed it. I was glad to find this place – it seems a great site, with many talented writers!

        Reply
    • Heather Eure says

      September 17, 2015 at 10:50 am

      What muse could resist your earnest plea? Thanks for sharing this gem, Andrew.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Epic Poetry: The Simile Prompt - says:
    September 21, 2015 at 8:00 am

    […] to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here is a poem from Rick we enjoyed, Invocation of the […]

    Reply
  2. Invocation of the Moon says:
    January 12, 2016 at 10:49 am

    […] Copyright © 2015 Richard Maxson *** Posted on TweetSpeak Poetry Prompt: Invocation of the Muse […]

    Reply
  3. Sam’s Guide to Opening Sentences | To Find the Colors Again says:
    March 22, 2017 at 5:01 pm

    […] trick is to illustrate it in the very first sentence. I like to think of opening sentences as an Invocation of the Muse–that first line of an ancient epic poem where the poet would ask for divine aid in telling […]

    Reply
  4. Indie-Author Adventures #9 - Gnothi Seauton - Morigan Shaw says:
    February 24, 2019 at 11:35 am

    […] all the noise. Don’t meditate or pray? No problem – Steven Pressfield is known to recite Homer’s invocation of the Muses before he writes. (psst… it’s about what works for you, […]

    Reply
  5. TIPS FOR BEGINNING WRITERS: HOW AND WHERE TO FIND INSPIRATION - Full Cycle Publications says:
    April 13, 2021 at 3:06 am

    […] can always invoke “the Muse”: Homer, the Greek poet, began his epic poems with an Invocation to the […]

    Reply
  6. Poets and Poems: Paulette Guerin and "Wading through Lethe" - Tweetspeak Poetry says:
    April 7, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    […] Paulette Guerin doesn’t want to forget. She uses the Greek myth in her new collection, Wading through Lethe, to remember her family, her childhood, visits to […]

    Reply
  7. What Is The Invocation Of The Muse? Quick Answer says:
    February 17, 2023 at 4:02 am

    […] Epic Poetry: Invocation of the Muse Prompt […]

    Reply
  8. Odysseus’ Journey Part 1 | Homer’s Odyssey Summary | #GreekMyths - Helinika says:
    June 1, 2023 at 8:30 am

    […] epic poem starts with the invocation of the muse prompt – a prayer or address that acts as a […]

    Reply

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