On the Democritean concept of poetic inspiration

The concept of poetic inspiration as a species of madness has usually been traced back to Democritus of Abdera, who is believed to have been the first to use the vocabulary of ecstatic possession for the characteristic activity of the talented poet, in implicit contrast with that of the philosopher. This essay reconsiders the Democritean fragments on poets and poetry in light of those pertaining to divinity, mind, and perception, concluding that later suppositions about the irrational inspiration of poets cannot be applied to Democritus, who seems instead to have looked to the inspired poet as a paradigm for his own conception of the optimally perceptive mind.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Classics

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Wash, Leon

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sanders, Kirk R.
• Augoustakis, Antonios

• Democritus
• enthousiasmos

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2012 Leon Wash

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/30997

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/30997