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.