Shakespeare's Sonnets 1 and 2

Sonnet I

FROM fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauty's rose might never die,

But as the riper should by time decease,

His tender heir might bear his memory:

But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,

Feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial fuel,

Making a famine where abundance lies,

Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.

Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament

And only herald to the gaudy spring,

Within thine own bud buriest thy content

And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding.

Pity the world, or else this glutton be,

To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.


My Interpretation of sonnet 1.

Shakespeare is talking about procreation being a necessity in beautiful people (not necessarily in looks); so that when these people age/ die/ are no longer able to bear seed, their beauty might live on in their heirs. (Notice the usage of male terminology which suggests that the British in that era were a male dominated society). Then he refers to these same people and terms them vain/ too full of themselves, because they feed their desire by masturbation/ celibacy. By doing this, they become their own worst enemies, because although they might be beaus, by ensuring that they do not procreate, they are being unfair not only to themselves but to society as well. The sonnet urges these people to rethink their foolish decision, or else continue being selfish and take to their grave something which they owed to themselves as well as the world, but were too miserly to share.

Sonnet II

When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,

And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,

Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,

Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:

Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies,

Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,

To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,

Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.

How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,

If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine

Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,'

Proving his beauty by succession thine!

This were to be new made when thou art old,

And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.

My Interpretation of Sonnet 2.

This is almost a continuation of the first sonnet as this one also talks about the need for procreation to carry on a family and self legacy.
When you are past the age of forty and age shows on you; when asked about where your great beauty is now, all you can do is feel ashamed, because you have nothing to show for it. If you would have instead had a child, then you could hold your head high and say my beauty lives on in my son. By doing this, when you are old and frail, you could still see your blood alive and young in your son and take pride in that.

A more indepth interpretation by me of Sonnets 1 and 2.

Shakespeare lived during the renaissance period and this was a time a large number of scholars, artists, politicians, authors and people who wielded immense power over the masses, started questioning the ways of the church (Roman). These people did not openly denounce their ways, instead they did it in ways that carried their messages where the church could not question or stop them. So, I feel that Sonnets 1 and 2 and some more I am sure were Shakespeare’s way of lashing out at the Roman Church because he was rebellious, a.k.a Wilde, Da Vinci, Voltaire, Michelangelo etc…

Through these sonnets he is talking about priests required to be celibate. Priests, who spread God’s word are known to be beautiful people, from the inside, not looks wise.

“As the Roman Catholic Church continued with new independence, it added even more remarkable doctrines that were not taken from the Bible. In 1079, Pope Gregory VII declared the shocking decree of celibacy for the priesthood.”

It was during this time that the seeds for the Church of England to be separated from the Roman Church were planted. These thoughts and more like them ultimately resulted in the Church of England forming a separate sect under King Arthur VIII, who came to be known as Protestants, in the 17th Century.
Protestant pastors can marry.

Others have speculated that during the years when nothing was known as to Shakespeare’s life, also known as Shakespeare’s dark years, he indulged in homosexuality. These sonnets may have been written as a plea to his male friend to marry and produce offspring just like he did. Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway and had a few offspring of his own. This is why, whether or not Shakespeare indulged in homosexuality or not was and still remains just that – a question, a doubt and mere speculation – there is no proof of this anywhere. You may choose to believe what you will.

My belief is that Shakespeare was addressing all three issues together. If you take the poem at face value, it is just a plea from one friend to another to marry and procreate. If you dwell deeper in history, then even the religious views make sense. And if you choose to believe that Shakespeare did indulge in homosexuality then the third viewpoint also holds merit.

There you go then, food for thought, eh?

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 16.

Place me on Sunium's* marbled steep,

Where nothing, save the waves and I,

May hear our mutual murmurs sweep;

There, swan-like, let me sing and die:

A land of slaves shall ne'er be mine—

Dash down yon cup of Samian wine!

By – George Gordon Byron - Also known as Lord Byron.


The last verse of this poem is an expression of determination and the birth of hope in the narrators mind.
He finally puts down his glass of wine and is the witness to the fact that his country will be free again or will die trying, but will never give up.

Sunium:

Cape Sounion is the setting of Poseidon's temple. Located right outside Athens this location is panorama of the gulf and a beautiful sunset.
A location of archaeological wonder.

Samian –

refers to all things from Samos, another island of Greece, and birthplace of many Gods as well as Pythagoras (remember the right angle Pythagoras Theorem in Geometry?)

This concludes our poem, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did studying and researching it.

Movies you might want to watch related to this poem are (and they are mentioned below in the sequence in which they occurred in reality):

Troy – Achilles, King Menelaus, Helen (of Troy), The Trojan Horse.

Alexander – Macedonian King, son of King Phillip II, victorious over Darius, Persian King and father of Xerxes.

300 – Spartans v/s Xerxes, Battle of Thermopylae.

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 14 and 15.

Note from me – I have put these two stanzas together because Stanza 15 is self explanatory and I feel reading them both together will make a more interesting and emotional read. The history I will be referring to will deal only with Stanza 14.

Trust not for freedom to the Franks*—

They have a king who buys and sells;

In native swords, and native ranks,

The only hope of courage dwells;

But Turkish force, and Latin fraud,

Would break your shield, however broad.


Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!

Our virgins dance beneath the shade—

I see their glorious black eyes shine;

But gazing on each glowing maid,

My own the burning tear-drop laves,

To think such breasts must suckle slaves


“Trust not for freedom to the Franks” –

This is a very important political statement Byron is making.

The Greek rebel troops waited for years on end for assistance from the major powers of Europe, most importantly from the Franks but this assistance only came toward the end when political interests came into play…

Byron is encouraging the Greeks to become aware of the fact that they are alone in this battle.

Turkish force once again refers to the Ottoman Empire.

Whenever any island of Greece was defeated, their women were made slaves and rape of these ladies was very common.
Their children out of this were also made slaves.

Why name the country "Greece" which is a Latin name?

The obvious answer is because the "concept" of a Greece was invented by the Modern Latins even before the "country" Greece came into existence.

Since the Latins invented Greece it was appropriate that they give it a Latin name.

So the Greeks fought for their independence, and then they were incorporated into the country of Europe using a Latin name.

This is what Byron means when he talks about Latin fraud.

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 13

Small note from me - I have cut down on history because it has come to my attention that this becomes very heavy reading. So, what I have done and will continue to do, is first just write a small reference paragraph after which I will give the entire history. I hope this works better for you.

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 13

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!

On Suli's* rock, and Parga's* shore,

Exists the remnant of a line

Such as the Doric* mothers bore;

And there, perhaps, some seed is sown,

The Heracleidan* blood might own.



- And once again we see a continuation of Byron’s previous stanzas, this time referring to more than one ancestry’s descendants; and their resistance to alien forces threatening to destroy their lineage and take from them everything they stand for.

Suli, Parga are both places in Greece, and he is hailing the Doric and Heracleidan lineage.

Heracleidae & Dorians Tribes through the Ages (they were part of the same.)
(from 1600 - 1100 BC to Today)

1. Pontians

2. Macedonians ( Remember King Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great?)

3. Cretans

4. Spartans (Remember King Leonidas and Achilles?)

5. Epirotes

6. Rhodians

7. Cypriots

8. Troyans also called Trojans, city of Troy. (remember Helen of Troy and Achilles?)

New evidences (2008) in south Italy reports: "part of people of Troy should be primal Dorian race"


This much information will suffice to follow the poem as we may completely understand why Byron is reminiscing about them. These were the races which boasted the bravest and most legendary heroes. Apart from that, these races were also responsible for the birth of several world renowned scholars, philosophers, artists and poets.

To understand the entire history, read on:

Suli: "on Suli's rock, on Parga's shore/ Exist the remnant of a line", here Byron is honoring the sacrifice and courage of Suli. Suli was a mountain settlement which had successfully evaded the Ottoman (Turkish) rule over the years.
When finally they were invaded the population fought heroically and the women & children, preferring to die than be anything but free Greeks, jumped from the village's high cliffs. The Ottomans entered a dead town.

Parga is another city (but this city is located on a shore whereas Suli is mountainous and rocky) which has survived invasions of numerous countries. It also boasts of brave Grecians who warded off invaders and stood their ground in spite of being outnumbered.
Parga was also passed around to several different dynasties.

Mythic origins

According to a myth based on an etymological fantasy, the Dorians were named for the minor district of Doris in northern Greece. Their leaders were mythologized as the Heracleidae, the sons of the legendary hero Heracles, and the Dorian incursion into Greece in the distant past was justified in the mythic theme of the "Return of the Heracleidae".

The most famous of Dorian groups were the Spartans, whose austere and martial lifestyle was much admired and feared.

Upon the death of Eurystheus an oracle tells the Mycenaeans to choose a Pelopid king and Atreus and Thyestes — already installed in nearby Midea by Sthenelus — contend for the prize. Atreus eventually wins out and his son, Orestes, returns to Mycenae and seizes the throne from Aletes, son of Aegisthus.
Orestes expanded his kingdom to include all of Argos, and he became king of Sparta by marrying Hermione, his cousin and the daughter of Menelaus and Helen (This is The Helen of Troy – the face that launched a 1000 ships, watch the film Troy, it is a very good depiction of Achilles and Helen and the Trojan Horse). Finally, Tisamenus, Orestes' son by Hermione, the daughter of Helen, inherits the throne.

The Heracleidae ("children of Heracles") return to the Peloponnese, led by Hyllus, the son of Heracles, and Iolaus, Heracles' nephew, and contend with the Pelopidae ("children of Pelops") for possession of the Peloponnese.

The Heracleidae base their claim to power on their descent, through Heracles, from Perseus, the founder of Mycenae, whereas Tisamenus was a Pelopid whom the Heracleidae regard as a usurper.

After a year, the Heracleidae are driven out by plague and famine. Upon consulting the Delphic oracle, they were told that they had returned before their proper time: the god said they should await "the third crop."

Accordingly, after three years, the Heracleidae invade the Peloponnese again, and Hyllus challenges the Peloponnesians to single-armed combat. In the ensuing duel with Echemus, king of Arcadia, Hyllus is killed and the Heracleidae undertake to withdraw for fifty years.

The Heracleidae invade again, under the leadership of Aristomachus, the son of Hyllus and Heracles' grandson. But Aristomachus is slain in combat with Tisamenus and his army, and the Heracleidae withdraw once again.

Upon consulting the oracle again, the Heracleidae are told that "the third crop" referred to the third generation of Heracles' descendants.

The Return of the Heracleidae under Heracles' great-grandsons is finally successful — although Aristodemus is slain by a thunderbolt, and his sons Procles and Eurysthenes assume leadership of his forces.

Temenus, Procles and Eurysthenes (the sons of Aristodemus), and Cresphontes cast lots for the kingdoms. Temenus becomes master of Argos, Procles and Eurysthenes of Sparta, and Cresphontes of Messenia.

Cresphontes secured the rule of Messenia for himself by the following stratagem: it was agreed that the first drawing of lots was for Argos, the second for Lacedaemon, and the third for Messenia. Both Temenus and the sons of Aristodemus throw stones into a pitcher of water, but Cresphontes cast in a clod of earth; since it was dissolved in the water, the other two lots turned up first.

Traditionally, this "Return of the Heracleidae" takes place eighty years after the Trojan war — between 1100 and 950 bc — and is represented as the recovery by the descendants of Heracles of the rightful inheritance of their hero ancestor and his sons.

For ancient historians, the Return of the Heracleidae explained the spread of Doric language and culture throughout areas regarded as Achaean during the Minoan and Mycenean eras: in the historical period the whole of the Peloponnese with the exception of Arcadia, Elis, and Achaea is Doric, along with Doris in northern Greece and the islands of Crete and Rhodes.

The traditional date of the "Dorian Invasion" correlates with archaeological evidence of widespread burning, destruction, or abandoning of Bronze Age sites on both Crete and the mainland in Late Helladic IIIC (1200-1050 bc), and the beginning of the Dark Ages in Greece.

The destructions are clear, but their causes are much disputed — theories run the gamut from economic factors, to social upheaval, climatic change, or external invasion.

And it is generally agreed that Doric speakers did enter Greece around this time, but most likely as a migration after the Mycenaean centers were destroyed. (The late Bronze Age was a period of migration throughout the Mediterranean basin.)

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 12

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 12


The tyrant of the Chersonese*

Was freedom's best and bravest friend;

That tyrant was Miltiades*!

O! that the present hour would lend

Another despot of the kind!

Such chains as his were sure to bind.

- Here is a continuation of Byron’s previous stanza, referring to Miltiades and his resistance to outward invasion, in spite of his reputed tyranny towards his own subjects.

Byron prays for the rise of a tyrant king like Miltiades, which he believes would still be better than Greece falling into foreign hands again.


For the full history read on.

The Thracian Chersonese was originally inhabited by Thracians.
Settlers from Ancient Greece, mainly of Ionian and Aeolian stock, founded about 12 cities on the peninsula in the 7th century BC.
The Athenian statesman Miltiades the Elder founded a major Athenian colony there around 560 BC. He took authority over the entire peninsula, building up its defences against incursions from the mainland.
It eventually passed to his nephew, the more famous Miltiades the Younger, around 524 BC.
The peninsula was abandoned to the Persians in 493 BC after the outbreak of the Greco-Persian Wars (499–478 BC).
The Persians were eventually expelled, after which the peninsula was for a time ruled over by Athens, which enrolled it into the Delian League in 478 BC.
Sparta gained control between 431 BC-404 BC, but the peninsula subsequently reverted to the Athenians.
In the 4th century BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the focus of a bitter territorial dispute between Athens and Macedon, whose king Philip II sought possession. It was eventually ceded to Philip in 338 BC. After the death of Philip's son Alexander the Great in 323 BC, the Thracian Chersonese became the object of contention among Alexander's successors.
In 196 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus III seized the peninsula. This alarmed the Greeks and prompted them to seek the aid of the Romans, who conquered the Thracian Chersonese, which they gave to their ally Eumenes II of Pergamon in 188 BC.
At the extinction of the Attalid dynasty in 133 BC it passed again to the Romans, who from 129 BC administered it in the Roman province of Asia. It was subsequently made a state-owned territory and during the reign of the emperor Caesar Augustus it was imperial property.
The Thracian Chersonese subsequently passed to the Byzantine Empire, which ruled it until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century AD. In 1356 the peninsula became the first part of Europe to fall to the Ottomans, who subsequently made it a major base for raids and incursions into territories further afield.

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 11

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 11

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!

We will not think of themes like these!

It made Anacreon's* song divine:

He served—but several Polycrates*—

A tyrant; but our masters then

Were still, at least, our countrymen.



- Byron is expressing a roller coaster of emotion, one moment high and the next a low. He shows anguish and hope, one followed by the other.
Here again he is beautifully moving back to optimism from the hopelessness portrayed by him in the previous stanza.
He continues to take us up and down which is what I believe he is feeling as well.

He is ever hopeful in this stanza, thus:

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!

We will not think of themes like these!

Anacreon's* song/ Polycrates*:

Anacreon of Teos in Ionia, B.C. 563-478, migrated with his countrymen to Abdera, now the city of Avdhira in Greece, on the capture of Teos by the Persians, B.C. 540.

He then lived for some years at the court of Polycrates of Samos (who died B.C. 522), and afterwards, at that of Hipparchus of Athens, finally returning to Teos, where he died at the age of eighty-five.

Of his genuine poetry only a few inconsiderable fragments are left; and his wide fame rests chiefly on the pseudo-Anacreontea, a collection of songs chiefly of a convivial and amatory nature.

So:

A tyrant; but our masters then
Were still, at least, our countrymen.


Here, besides talking about Polycrates of Samos, he is also laying the foundation for his following stanza which talks about more kings of Greece, who were all tyrant kings.

The Isles of Greece - Stanzas 1 - 10

If you have been following my posts, I am now just posting the first 10 stanzas so that you may read them together and enjoy the poem without the history.

Stanza 11 will be up soon.

The Isles of Greece - Stanzas 1 - 10

The isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece!

Where burning Sappho* loved and sung,

Where grew the arts of war and peace,

Where Delos* rose, and Phoebus* sprung!

Eternal summer gilds them yet,

But all, except their sun, is set.


The Scian* and the Teian* muse,

The hero's harp*, the lover's lute*,

Have found the fame your shores refuse;

Their place of birth alone is mute

To sounds which echo further west

Than your sires' 'Islands of the Blest.'


The mountains look on Marathon*—

And Marathon looks on the sea;

And musing there an hour alone,

I dream'd that Greece might still be free;

For standing on the Persians' grave*,

I could not deem myself a slave.


A king sate on the rocky brow

Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis*;

And ships, by thousands, lay below,

And men in nations;—all were his!

He counted them at break of day—

And when the sun set where were they?


And where are they? and where art thou,

My country? On thy voiceless shore

The heroic lay is tuneless now—

The heroic bosom beats no more!

And must thy lyre, so long divine,

Degenerate into hands like mine?



'Tis something, in the dearth of fame,

Though link'd among a fetter'd race,

To feel at least a patriot's shame,

Even as I sing, suffuse my face;

For what is left the poet here?

For Greeks a blush—for Greece a tear.


Must we but weep o'er days more blest?

Must we but blush?—Our fathers bled.

Earth! render back from out thy breast

A remnant of our Spartan* dead!

Of the three hundred grant but three,

To make a new Thermopylae*!


What, silent still? and silent all?

Ah! no;—the voices of the dead

Sound like a distant torrent's fall,

And answer, 'Let one living head,

But one arise,—we come, we come!'

'Tis but the living who are dumb.



In vain—in vain: strike other chords;

Fill high the cup with Samian* wine!

Leave battles to the Turkish hordes*,

And shed the blood of Scio's vine*!

Hark! rising to the ignoble call—

How answers each bold Bacchanal*!



You have the Pyrrhic* dance as yet,

Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?

Of two such lessons, why forget

The nobler and the manlier one?

You have the letters Cadmus* gave—

Think ye he meant them for a slave?

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 10

Stanza 10

You have the Pyrrhic* dance as yet,
Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
Of two such lessons, why forget
The nobler and the manlier one?
You have the letters Cadmus* gave—
Think ye he meant them for a slave?


In short - for those who do not want too much history -


- Lord Byron is hitting at the men of Greece by reminding them that although the Pyrrhic dance is still performed, the more manly and noble Phalanx formation which led to many Greek victories has been forgotten.

- He follows this by reminding his fellow Greeks again that when they were given the alphabet by Cadmus, he did not expect them to be slaves, he thought he was giving it to those who were worthy of it.

And now for the detailed history -


*Pyrrhic Dance –

A general name for dance in armor that is known generally as "Pyrrhiche" (Pyrrhic dance).

These martial dances are part of the basic military education in both Athens and Sparta accompanied by the sound of a flute.

The four divisions were,
- the podism or footing a quick motion such as might be required for overtaking the enemy (or for fleeing from him)
- the Xiphism, or sham fight
- the Kosmos with very high leaping or vaulting a training for the jumping of ditches or walls
- the Tetracomos a square figure with slow majestic measure.
There are variations of these armed dances and different origins:

In Athens, pyrrhic dance contests were held at the Panathenaia festival. These dances were associated with Athena who was considered the inventor of the dance.
According to Cretan mythology the Kouretes protected the infant Zeus from Kronos making noise with their shields and were assumed to be the inventors of this dance in armour. One of these Kouretes, was Pyrrhikos. In Creta there was an associated Kouretes armed dance with swords.

1035. ... The Idæi Dactyli found Iron in mount Ida in Crete, and worked it into armour and iron tools, and thereby gave a start to the trades of smiths and armourers in Europe; and by singing and dancing in their armour, and keeping time by striking upon one another's armour with their swords, they brought in Music and Poetry; and at the same time they nursed up the Cretan Jupiter in a cave of the same mountain, dancing about him in their armour. Sir Isaac Newton

One other possible mythological origin of the name: Pyrrhus (known also as Neoptolemos) (a son of Achilles).

The Pyrrhic dance was performed in different ways at various times and in various countries, for it was by no means confined to the Doric* states (Doric - The inhabitants of the Peloponnese in southern Greece were called the Dorians and the dialect they spoke was called Doric.)

Plato describes it as rapid movements of the body in the way in which missiles and blows from weapons were avoided, and also the mode in which the enemy was attacked. In the non-Doric states it was probably not practised as training for war, but only as a mimetic dance.

*The Greek phalanx was a column formation of heavy infantry carrying long spears, or pikes, and swords.

The pikes were six to twelve feet long, much longer than spears of the past.
Men in the phalanx carried a round shield called a hoplon, from which the infantry took their name, hoplites.
The hoplites wore metal armor on their chests, forearms, and shins at least, plus a metal helmet that covered the head down to the neck.
The addition of armor classified the hoplites as heavy infantry, as opposed to light infantry that wore little or no armor.
A typical phalanx unit was ten men across the front rank and ten men deep, but many such units were combined into one larger unit.

*The Pyrrhic War initially started as a minor conflict between Rome and the city of Tarentum over a naval treaty violation by one of the Roman consuls. Tarentum had, however, lent aid to the Greek ruler Pyrrhus of Epirus in his conflict with Corcyra, and requested military aid from Epirus. Pyrrhus honored his obligation to Tarentum and joined the complex series of conflicts involving Tarentum, the Romans, Samnites, Etruscans, and Thurii (as well as other cities of Magna Graecia).
To further complicate historical analysis of the conflict, Pyrrhus also involved himself in the internal political conflicts of Sicily, as well as the Sicilian struggle against Carthaginian dominance.
Pyrrhus' involvement in the regional conflicts of Sicily reduced the Carthaginian influence in Sicily drastically. In Italy, his involvement seems to have been mostly ineffectual but had long term implications. The Pyrrhic war proved both that the states of ancient Greece had essentially become incapable of defending the independent colonies of Magna Graecia and that the Roman legions were capable of competing with the armies of the Hellenistic kingdoms — the dominant Mediterranean powers of the time.
This opened the way for Roman dominance over the city states of Magna Graecia and advanced the Roman consolidation of power in Italy greatly. Rome's proven record in international military conflicts would also aid its resolve in its rivalry with Carthage, which was eventually to culminate in the Punic Wars. Linguistically, the Pyrrhic War is the source of the expression "Pyrrhic victory," a term for a victory won at too high a cost.
It is attributed to Pyrrhus himself by Plutarch, who described Pyrrhus' reaction to the report of a victorious battle:

The two armies separated; and we are told that Pyrrhus said to one who was congratulating him on his victory, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined."

The patchwork of Italian and Sicilian cultures and nations had resulted in an ongoing web of conflicts and territory changes, which many would argue had seen a steady expansion of Roman influence over Italy.
Rome was, however, a "local Italian concern", never having tried its hand in the larger international affairs of the Mediterranean, nor pitted its military strength against any of the dominant Greek cultures.

The Pyrrhic war would change both of these facts.

*Cadmus, legendary founder of Thebes, was not a Greek by birth, but a Phoenician who brought the alphabet to Boeotia, a part of ancient Greece where he started the Theban royal family familiar to us from Greek tragedy.

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 9

Stanza 9


In vain—in vain: strike other chords;
Fill high the cup with Samian* wine!
Leave battles to the Turkish hordes*,
And shed the blood of Scio's vine*!
Hark! rising to the ignoble (without honour) call—
How answers each bold Bacchanal*!



My observations and historical references to stanza 9 –

*Samian –

refers to all things from Samos, another island of Greece, and birthplace of many Gods as well as Pythagoras (remember the Pythagoras Theorem in Geometry?) and Aesop (Remember Aesop’s Fables?) and many others.

A Brief history in relation to the poet’s reference.

From 1453 with the fall of Constantinople until the revolution in 1821 Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. (thus - Leave battles to the Turkish hordes*,)

During the Greek National Revolution of 1821 the few Ottoman (Turkish), residents of Samos abandoned the island which remained independent until the end of the revolution, thanks to the efforts of the Greek fleet which successively fought the continuous attempts of the Ottoman (Turkish) and Egyptian fleet to take possession of it.

In 1912, during the Balkan wars, the revolted residents of Samos achieved to fight the Ottomans and declare their incorporation to the Greek state on the 11th of November 1912.

*Scio’s vine -

Scio is the modern name of Chios, in the AEgean Sea.

And shed the blood of Scio's vine*! –

A plea to the people of Scio to join in the revolution.
With the Greek revolution of 1821, the inhabitants of Chios were roused by Lykourgos Logothetis of Samos who led his army to fight a Turkish garrison. (*Turkish Hordes)

When the Sultan heard what happened, he sent his fleet in Chios to punish the inhabitants for participating in the revolution.

On the 30th of March 1822, 7000 Turk soldiers under the command of Kara Ali Pasha disembarked on Chios and slaughtered 25000 of its inhabitants and forced almost twice that number of people into slavery.

On the night of June 6th 1822, Kanaris, a Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician avenged the Chios massacre, by killing the Turkish Admiral Kara Ali Pasha.

The massacre of Chios increased the sympathy of the rest of Europe and the growth of Philhellenism.

After the massacre, Victor Hugo wrote his wonderful poem "Enfant de Chios" and Delacroix painted Le Massacre de Chios, which can be admired in the Louvre Museum. The first refugees started to return to Chios in 1832.

On the 11th of November 1912, the island of Chios was finally liberated and reunited with the newly built Greek State.


Bacchanals (mythology) –

Bacchus and Dionysus are interchangeable names of the same deity.
Bakchos was his common Greek name and his followers were called Bacchoi. He was conceived in a sexual relationship between Zeus and the mortal, Semele, daughter of Cadmus, King of the Greek city of Thebes.

During Dionysus’ travels when people rejected his worship he could be a god of cruel retribution.

Dionysus traveled with a very unique entourage of Bacchanalia creatures and associates:

Silenus - the oldest of Satyrs was Dionysus’ debauched mentor and most frequent companion.

Pan – was a pastoral deity who made flocks fertile so appropriately he had horns, legs and ears of a goat. Although he was physically unattractive, he had amorous tendency to seduce nymphs. He could be mischievous and sometimes ill tempered often frightening unwary forest travelers. He was known for playing his reed pan flute and for blowing into a conch shell. When he blew the conch shell the sound emitted created so much anxiety and agitation that our word panic is derived from Pan.

Maenads or Bacchantes –
were the most fearsome in the bacchanal retinue. They were mortal wild- haired women followers who roamed mountains and forests adorned in ivy and animal skins waving the thyrsos (reed tipped with pine cone).

Satyrs, Sileni, fauns, centaurs –
were forest participants in the Bacchanal. Satyrs were sensuous creatures usually part man part goat (hooves, horns, ears, tail) who danced, played music and certainly knew how to party. Ancient Greek and Romans depicted them as ugly with beards, snub noses and bulging foreheads.

Sileni -
were similar to satyrs, but were older and often had either horse or goat legs horns, ears, and tail.

Fauns -
were gentler, handsome young males with discrete horns and goat ears, tail and usually human legs. They were the most attractive of the group and popular in sculpture.

Centaurs -
sometimes in Bacchanalia were creatures with the head and torso of a man and body of a horse.

Nymphs –
were beautiful maiden-creatures who in habited, the sea, rivers, woods, trees, meadows and mountains as followers of various deities. (this is from where the English term nymphomania is derived)

All in all these were a wild mix of people and creatures led by Dionysus, son of Zeus, who was known as a very strong God of retribution.

In the early Christian Era, Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius II (401 – 450CE) by law ended the bacchanal and all Dionysian worship. This led to persecution of the Bacchoi (members) which forced the Cult to go underground, later to reemerge even stronger. Their descendents and followers are who Byron is calling on.


Byron’s poem is included in a variety of pre-war literature written to bring awareness about these issues and the ones to follow, to the world.

The Isles of Greece – Stanza 8

Stanza 8

What, silent still? and silent all?
Ah! no;—the voices of the dead
Sound like a distant torrent's fall,
And answer, 'Let one living head,
But one arise,—we come, we come!'
'Tis but the living who are dumb.

My observations on Stanza 8 –

Byron goes on a disappointed and angry outburst about the lack of action prior to this point in history, this is a perspective he shared with the members of the Resistance. How could our ancestors have fought and died so courageously for our freedom yet we seem unable to?

The martyrs of ancient Greece would still return were they able to, -

'Let one living head,
But one arise,

- to die again for their land, they would gladly lay their lives down once again, it is the living people of Greece who do not realize that they have it in them.

‘“we come, we come!” Tis but the living who are dumb.’

His anger may seem out of place when one considers the events that did occur and how heroically the Revolution was fought by men, women and children; but it is important to understand that Byron wrote this poem in 1819 and it was published in 1821, the first year of the official Revolution.

The movie 300

Just finished watching this awesome pic 300, the historical depiction of a stand taken by 300 Spartans v/s Xerxes (persian King) and his 100000+ men in The Battle of Thermopylae. The battle lasted 3 days.

Am still in the grieving and mourning process.

To know more go watch the film, 'cause I'm not telling!

King Leonidas Monument - Thermopylae

Battle of Thermopylae - Maps, Layouts, historical depictions and monuments

The Isles of Greece – Stanzas 6 and 7

Again, I could not do these 2 stanzas separately because they deal with the same event in history, The Battle of Thermopylae.

Here, I have also split the stanzas at places, because I felt that was the only way to do it.

Stanza 6.

'Tis something, in the dearth (scarcity) of fame,

Though link'd among a fetter'd (chained, tied down, restrained) race,

To feel at least a patriot's shame,

Even as I sing, suffuse my face;

My understanding - His shame fills his mind and thoughts even as he writes this, seeing as he considers himself a true Greek patriot.


For what is left the poet here?
For Greeks a blush—for Greece a tear.

Me - Because he does not know what else to do, except grieve over the loss of the majesty of Greece. Again his helplessness and angst is stressed here. I do not know about everyone else here, but I feel his pain and I share in his anguish, if only for the duration of my working on this poem. I am sure I will forget, move on to other things, but, as of right now, my feelings are real, I find myself in the past, standing alongside the poet, hoping there was something more I could do.

End of Stanza 6.

Stanza 7.

Must we but weep o'er days more blest?

Must we but blush?—Our fathers bled.

Me - And here again, we see his anger and his pride. We (the poet, the people of Greece, and I, because as of this moment I feel I am right there with them, please forgive me, but that’s just the way it is) must not sit here and weep over our past heroes, they were after all our forefathers, we have their blood running through our veins as well. We will fight back just as they did.


Earth! render back from out thy breast

A remnant of our Spartan* dead!

Of the three hundred grant but three,

To make a new Thermopylae*!


Me - He calls out to his fellow Greeks, reminding them of the battle of Thermopylae, where Xerxes with 1,00,000 men were stumped by 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas. (See notes on The Battle of Thermopylae); saying even if 3 of them would be amongst the warriors today, that would suffice.

End of Stanza 7.


The History behind this.

Thermopylae: The famous battle of Thermopylae was the effort of the Spartans, lead by their King Leonidas, to slow down the Persians.

The significance of this battle is the amazing dedication and determination of the 300 Spartans who cleverly positioned themselves at the tight passage of Thermopylae where the Persians could only get through few at a time.

Though vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the Persian advance until a defector informed the Persians of an alternate route, leading to the defeat of the Greek army and the sacking of Athens.

The Spartans lost this battle and it is said that the sun was hidden by the storm of arrows but the Spartans sacrifice will never be forgotten in Greece.

These verses also remind me of a song children sing at national celebrations of the 1821 Revolution- when Byron fought with the Greeks-

it says in rough translation:

"Oh 300 arise and come back to us again, and see how much alike you your children are".

In the days of Byron, the Greeks again unite to honor freedom with the same courage. This battle also significantly slowed down and weakened the Persian army, which was a tremendous help in the ensuing Battle of Salamis (stanzas 4 and 5), where, ultimately the Persians were defeated.

Now, if you watch the film 300 you should be blown away by it; amazing movie, and after knowing the history behind it, all the more so.

Am going to do that tonight itself.

For understanding the history in relation to the poem, what you have read thus far will suffice.

However, if you truly want to know about how the events took place in detail, read on. It's almost story like, and very readable.

Background of The Battle of Thermopylae.

Xerxes I, king of Persia, had been preparing for years to continue the war against the Greeks started by his father Darius. In 484 BC the army and navy of Xerxes arrived in Asia Minor and built a bridge of ships across the Hellespont at Abydos to march his troops across.

According to Herodotus, Xerxes had over five million men,
while
the poet Simonides estimated three million;

Herodotus also wrote that the army drank entire rivers and ate the food supplies of entire cities.

While these are clearly exaggerations, it is clear the Greeks were enormously outnumbered.

An alliance of Greek city-states was quickly formed, headed by the militaristic Sparta, whose supremely disciplined warriors were trained from birth to be amongst the best soldiers in the world at that time.

The Spartan soldiers had mastered the phalanx formation - essentially a tight wall of overlapping shields.

The Greek states held back from sending the full force of their armies, however, citing religious reasons. Fearing an uprising of their huge slave population, and fearful of going to war before the conclusion of the Carneia festival, the deeply superstitious Spartans contributed only a small force of 300 hoplites, hand-picked and commanded by King Leonidas.

Knowing the likely outcome of the battle, Leonidas selected his men on one simple criterion: he took only men who had fathered sons that were old enough to take over the family responsibilities of their fathers.

Because of its defensible terrain, the mountain pass of Thermopylae, also known as the "Hot Gates", was chosen as the site of battle. At the time it consisted of a pass so narrow, two chariots could barely move abreast – on one side stood the sheer side of the mountain, while the other was a cliff drop into the sea. Along the path was a series of three "gates," and at the center gate a short wall was hastily erected by the Greek army to aid in their defense. It was here in the August of 480 BC that an army of some 7000 Greeks, led by 300 Spartans, stood to receive the full force of the Persian army, numbering perhaps some forty times its size.

See Map of Thermopylae.

Also see Battle layout of Persian invasion led by XERXES into Greece.



Xerxes did not believe such a small force would oppose him, and gave the Greeks three to four days to retreat.
The Persians were initially astounded upon seeing the Spartans oiling themselves and performing calisthenics, not understanding its ritual significance, performed by men with the resolution to fight to the end.
Meanwhile, the Persian army was growing restless, and Xerxes sent his troops into the pass with hellish results. The Persians, with arrows and short spears, could not break through the long spears of the Greek hoplites' phalanx. Enormous casualties were sustained by the Persians as the disciplined Spartans orchestrated a series of feint retreats, followed by a quick turn back into formation.

Greek morale was high.

Herodotus wrote that when Dienekes, a Spartan soldier, was informed that Persian arrows blotted out the sun, he remarked with characteristically laconic prose, "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade."

The 6000 Greeks defending the pass slew the Persians in a similar manner on the second day of battle, fighting in a relay manner. After watching his troops fall before the Greeks, Xerxes decided to send his legendary Immortals, so named for their fierce fighting and impenetrable line. Whenever one would fall, another would quickly fill the gap in the ranks. However, even the Immortals lacked the power to break the Spartan phalanx.

After the second day a Greek named Ephialtes defected to the Persians and informed Xerxes of a separate path through Thermopylae.

The pass was defended by the other 1000 Greeks, from Phocis, who had been placed there when the Greeks learned of the alternate route just before the battle, but they were not expecting to engage the Persians. The Phocians offered a brief resistance before fleeing, and the Persians advanced unopposed.


Leonidas then realized that further fighting would be futile. On August 11 he dismissed all but the 300 Spartans.
A contingent of Thespians, led by Demophilus, stayed as well in a suicidal effort to delay the advance. Leonidas also had a force of Thebans, but after some fighting they defected to the Persians.
Although the Greeks killed many Persians, including two of Xerxes' brothers, Leonidas was eventually killed, along with all 300 of his men.

The last Spartans were killed by a barrage of arrows after fighting fanatically to recover their king's body, having been driven back into the narrowest part of the pass onto a small hill.


There is an epitaph on a monument at site of the battle with Simonides's epigram, which can be found in Herodotus's work The Histories, to the Spartans, which to keep the poetic context can be translated as:

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie

or more literally as:

Oh foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians that here we lie, obeying those words.

Another translation (by Michael Dodson, 1951) captures the spirit of enduring service to the state which was taught to all Spartan warriors:

Friend, tell the Spartans that on this hill we lie obedient to them still.

Aftermath


While a technical victory for the Persians, the enormous casualties caused by a few thousand Greeks was a significant blow to the Persian army.

Likewise, it significantly boosted the resolve of the Greeks to face the Persian onslaught.

The simultaneous naval Battle of Artemisium was a draw, whereupon the Greek (or more accurately, Athenian) navy retreated.

The Persians had control of the Aegean Sea and all of Greece as far south as Attica; the Spartans prepared to defend the Isthmus of Corinth and the Peloponnese, while Xerxes sacked Athens, whose inhabitants had already fled to Salamis Island.

In September the Greeks defeated the Persians at the naval Battle of Salamis, which led to the rapid retreat of Xerxes. (see stanzas 4 and 5).

The remaining Persian army, left under the charge of Mardonius, was defeated at Plataea by a combined Greek army again led by the Spartans, under the regent Pausanias.

The Persians, never to return to Greece, were soon to fall under the shadow of Alexander the Great.


Legends:

The legend of Thermopylae, as told by Herodotus, has it that Sparta consulted the Oracle at Delphi before setting out to meet the Persian army. The Oracle is said to have made the following prophecy in hexameter verse:

“O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!
Either your glorious town shall be sacked by the children of Perseus,
Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian country
Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great Heracles.
He cannot be withstood by the courage of bulls nor of lions,
Strive as they may; he is mighty as Jove; there is naught that shall stay him,
Till he have got for his prey your king, or your glorious city.”

In essence, the Oracle's warning was that either Sparta would be conquered and left in ruins, or one of her two hereditary kings must sacrifice his life to save her.


And now if you see the film, more power to you.

Ruins of Salamis

The Isles of Greece – Stanzas 4 and 5.

I could not do these 2 stanzas separately because they deal with the same event in history, The Battle of Salamis.

A king* sate on the rocky brow
Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis*;
And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men in nations;—all were his!
He counted them at break of day—
And when the sun set where were they?

And where are they? and where art thou,
My country? On thy voiceless shore
The heroic lay is tuneless now—
The heroic bosom beats no more!
And must thy lyre, so long divine,
Degenerate into hands like mine?


*The King referred to by Byron was *King Xerxes who sat on the rocks and watched as the Greek Navy led by King Themistocles fought and won one of the most epic battles of Greece (see pic); *The Battle of Salamis, in which he overpowered and forced back the Persian fleet led by Xerses.

This was the 2nd time the Persians had declared war with Greece, The first one being the battle of Marathon in which King Darius, Xerxes’s father led the Persians.

The gap between the 2 was 20 years.

Xerxes raised an army of over 100,000 men (an astronomical figure in the ancient world). He kept his army close to the coast and supplied by sea. To ensure he kept his sea lanes opened, he had a fleet of over 1200 battleships outfitted for this adventure. The Persian fleet had to destroy the Greek Navy if they were to gain supremacy. This set the stage for the battle of Salamis.

The aftermath of Salamis left the Athenians the greatest naval power in the Mediterranean.

Xerxes comes down to Western History as the man who entered Greece with over 100,000 men and more than 1200 ships only to be stymied by the cunning and courage of the Greeks.

Thus:

“And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men in nations;—all were his!
He counted them at break of day—
And when the sun set where were they?”

- Refers to the plight of Xerxes whose 1200 ships were overpowered and he was left with unbearable losses.

And so again the poet calls out to the Greeks reminding them of these heroes, urging Greece forward; and at the same time showing regret that if a small man such as he would be left the job of taking such culture, art, music, poetry and tradition as that of the Greeks and keeping it alive, it would be a shame, because no one could capture the essence of Greece and do justice to it, not even he; he would fail miserably. Here again, the panic, the sadness of the poet is very strongly visible as is his frustration and at not being able to do anything, except watch as Greece was torn apart piece by piece.

The Athenian Tomb at Marathon

Pic of The Battle of Marathon

The Isles of Greece - Stanza 3

The mountains look on Marathon*—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dream'd that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians' grave*,
I could not deem myself a slave.


* Marathon: The small town and area of Marathon is located about thirty minutes away from the northern city borders of modern day Athens. It is a significant location due
to the battle of Marathon, where the outnumbered Athenians cleverly defeated the invading Persian army. Also, it is the starting point of the original Marathon race, which follows the path believed to be run by the messenger of the Athenian army to declare the victory over the Persians to the rest of the city.

* Persians' grave: In Marathon lies the tomb of the Athenians lost in this battle which he refers to as The Persians' grave because it was the Persians who killed them. Lord Byron is referring to the battle of Marathon where Miltiadis, the Athenian general, managed to surround the Persians and save Athens from invasion. Byron cannot deem himself a slave as he stands here, no one can, he feels protected by its history. And he shows a flicker of hope, that maybe there was a chance that Greece may regain its freedom.

The Isles of Greece - Stanza 2

The Scian* and the Teian* muse,
The hero's harp*, the lover's lute*,
Have found the fame your shores refuse;
Their place of birth alone is mute
To sounds which echo further west
Than your sires' 'Islands of the Blest.'


*The Scian Muse – refers to the Cean poet. Simonides, of Ceos

*The Teian Muse –
refers to Anacreon, a native of Teion, in Paphlagonia, Greece, a remarkable poet at the time.

*The Hero’s harp - An aeolian harp or wind harp is a stringed instrument played by the wind. It is named after the Greek god of wind, Aeolus. "It is usually a long, narrow, shallow box with soundholes and 10 or 12 strings strung lengthwise between two bridges. The strings are the same length but different thicknesses and are all tuned to the same pitch; the wind makes them vibrate in successively higher harmonics. It was intended to be played not by human hands, but by the God of Wind himself. Its melodies and harmonies were not those chosen by humans, but were held to be the improvisations of Nature itself.

*The lover's lute - refers to the flute, which in greek mythology was created by the God of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music - PAN, he made the lute from a reed in the water.
Pan was depicted as a man with the horns, legs and tail of a goat, and with thick beard, snub nose and pointed ears. He used the lute to play music to attract nymphs. Hence lover's lute.

Even though invaders did their best to destroy all music, art, beliefs of the Greek people, these found recognition in places further west than they could reach; and did not die out, as was the plan. All that they (invaders) succeeded in doing was destroying the places where these poets and instruments originated from. I detected a feeling of pride in the poet when he wrote this, almost as if it were his own victory. I don't know why, but it's just a feeling that I got and I felt proud and emotional too.

More pics related to Isles of Greece - Stanza 1

In all these pics, notice how the heads of the Gods and Goddesses have been chopped off.

Phew, need a break, that was hard work, signing off now. 2nd stanza follows tomorrow. I hope you like.