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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON HOMER'S BIRTHPLACE by ANTIPATER OF SIDON

First Line: FROM COLOPHON SOME DEEM THEE SPRUNG
Last Line: NO OTHER THAN CALLIOPE.
Subject(s): CALLIOPE (GODDESS); HOMER (10TH CENTURY B.C.); POETRY & POETS; ILIAD; ODYSSEY;

FROM Colophon some deem thee sprung,
From Smyrna some, and some from Chios;
These noble Salamis have sung,
While those proclaim thee born in Ios;
And others cry up Thessaly
The mother of the Lapithae.

Thus each to Homer has assigned
The birthplace just which suits his mind.

But, if I read the volume right,
By Phoebus to his followers given,
I'd say they're all mistaken quite,
And that his real country's heaven;
While for his mother, she can be
No other than Calliope.



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