The Oracle of Delphi…Poet?
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. - Socrates, In "Apology," sct. 21, by Plato.
I am sure I am not the only poet who can relate to an almost trance-like state when writing.
I prefer to write at night, late at night when the streets are bare and it feels like the world exists for me alone. There is no ego, only truth and infinite possibility. I write with music on, but only music that I know well enough to be able to sing along while ignoring. I prefer to be alone and always make sure I am in a chill place before I begin.
With the atmosphere peak and the beginning rituals performed, I let the words flow. I write for as long as it feels that I should still be writing (or until I am so exhausted, I can’t keep my eyes from crossing).
The strains of poetry flow from deep within.
What source?
Mind? Soul?
Instinct? Inspiration?
Are poets traslating the divine?
Or was the Oracle a poet?...
[The] priestess would be seated … in a state of trance …, while in this trance she only mumbled her answer . .. From her sometimes garbled muttering, the priest would translate into hexameter verse. The Pythia never gave a straight answer, Heraclitus the philosopher (circa 500 BCE) said. The oracle neither conceals nor reveals the truth, but only hints at it.
- Ron Leadbetter
She prepares herself, then, in a state of trance, she (along with her poetic partner, the priest) would create verses that “neither conceals nor reveals the truth, but only hints at it.” Sounds like a poet and a poem to me.
After her death, it was said that she became a wandering voice that still brought to the ears … tidings of the future wrapped in dark enigmas.
- Wikipedia
Sincerely,
D. Cole
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