Hellenistic poetry arose after the late Alexander period and heavily influenced other styles of writing to come. One contemporary writer of time was Theocritus. Theocritus was a Greek poet from Syracuse poetry in the early third century B.C. . He was considered by some to be a "remaker of the Greek tradition." Theocritus kept his writing tightly organized, and on a miniature scale in order to convey his ideas in an in implicit manner, as opposed to long neurotic rants. According to Halperin, "Theocritus's linguistic inventiveness extends beyond the mere combination of divers linguistic elements to the learned creating of unreal, cross-dialectal coinages that are designed to recall the hybrid morphology of individual words in Homer" . An example of Theocritus inventive writing can be seen in his work entitled The Idylls.
[...] The vision that the Cyclops is a mortal man with real feelings and emotions is not the traditional view. The Cyclops traditional taught is an ogre, rage driven man set out to hurt all in his path. In Homer's The Odyssey the Cyclops is an obstacle to overcome. Theocritus changes the conception of the Cyclops and poetical makes him into a real person. The Cyclops now has real emotions and pain that all humans can relate to. Theocritus, one of the foundation writers of the Hellenistic [...]
[...] He would wait for a sailor to come around and teach him to swim so he could understand how she does not want to be with him; he would find out what is so wonderful about leaving in the sea. The final stanza is a conversation the Cyclops is playing out in his mind. It is all words he thinks Galatea would say to him if she had just heard his song. She would say that the reason she can not see the Cyclops is because of her mother. [...]
[...] The Cyclops has a very pessimistic and negative view on how Galatea feels about him. He reveal is feelings in this statement, you, by Zeus, you think nothing of The Cyclops believes she does not love him because of his hideous facial features, is because of my eyebrow, my single eyebrow, which stretches across the full width of my face, from ear to ear, one, long and hairy His imperfections drive her away. The Cyclops tries to explain that underneath his ugliness is a man with emotions. [...]
[...] Theocritus used his poetry more for than just entertainment. He wrote to convey a message. Gutzwiller believes that the story of the lovelorn Polyphemus and Galatea was written to demonstrate that poetry was the only cure for love[13]. Theocritus uses the careful effects of metaphors to form attractive images. In the fifth stanza the Cyclops sings, logs of oak, an undying fire, beneath those ashes; I offer you my soul to burn, and my single eye as well, than which, believe me, I love nothing more”. [...]
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