Search Results: Poetry

The Ancient Greek symposium is often considered an important part of Greek culture, a place where the elite drank, feasted and indulged in sometimes decadent activities. Although such practices were present in symposia, the writing and performance...

Alcohol played an integral part in Norse culture. People drank ale more than water because the brew had to be boiled as part of the process and so was safer to drink. The Norse of Scandinavia had four main types of fermented beverage: ale...

Poetry is the first form of literary expression in the world as evidenced by The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest piece of world literature. For over 4,000 years, people have been writing poetry to express personal, communal, or global experiences...

Gregory of Tours is forced to listen to the bad poetry of King Chilperic I (r. 561-584) of Neustria. Illustratuon by Jean-Paul Laurensfor the work of Augustin Thierry, Récits des temps mérovingiens (Paris, 1881).

Anthology of Persian Poetry with the poems of Hafez Shiraz Folios 33r-32v Iran, 17th century CE

This full-page illustration depicts Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 - 1400 CE) reading his poem Troilus and Criseyde to the court of Richard II of England (1367 - 1400 CE). This copy of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde was made c. 1415 - 1425 CE...

17th-century, woodcut recreation of Li Po writing 100 verses while drinking a quart of wine seated on the veranda with a group of men.

A scene composed of Persian colored tiles showing a picnic in a garden. First-quarter of the 17th century, Isfahan, Iran. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

In honour of World Poetry Day which is celebrated on March 21st, we are introducing three prominent Female Poets from the Ancient World! Enheduanna is the first author that we know of by name, and she was writing in Mesopotamia between 2285-2250...

The Roman love poet Catullus wrote passionate poems about his tempestuous relationship with 'Lesbia', as well as obscene diatribes about high profile contemporaries like Julius Caesar. In this vodcast Dr Rhiannon Evans and Dr Sonya Wurster...