| "Euterpe glanced her fingers o'er her lute, | | | | create works of wonder and beauty, whether in |
| | | | painting, poetry, literature, music or drama. |
| And lightly waked it to a cheerful strain, | | | | Homer's famous opening lines of the Odyssey |
| | | | still serve as a strong testimony to the idea |
| Then laid it by, and took the mellow flute, | | | | that the muse of inspiration should be |
| | | | invoked first and foremost in the artist's |
| Whose softly flowing warble filled the | | | | creative life: "Sing to me, o Muse, of the |
| plain: | | | | wise man who traveled far..."It sometimes |
| | | | makes one wonder why certain periods of |
| It was a lay that roused the drooping soul, | | | | history are blessed by an exorbitant amount |
| | | | of creative inspiration and flourish with an |
| And bade the tear of sorrow cease to | | | | abundance of refined and soul-stirring art, |
| flow"(from "An Ode to Music" by James G. | | | | whereas other periods seem almost deprived of |
| Percival)She is capricious, fickle, hard to | | | | true artistic beauty and lack a higher |
| please. She lets you wait for her in | | | | inspiration and vision. Could this be |
| desparation for many long hours - and decides | | | | explained by the suggestion that the artists |
| not to come. Then the next day she suddenly | | | | of these more prosperous times had more faith |
| comes, unexpected, unannounced. Queen of | | | | in the guidance of the muse and consciously |
| arbitrary appearances, mistress of magical | | | | or unconsciously invoked her presence? Or by |
| moments, empress of eloquence, embodied by | | | | the assumption that the muse herself was more |
| the unseen, subtle thought-wave tickling the | | | | active in these periods, scattering her seeds |
| brain, instilling in the subtle sense a | | | | of inspiration freely about, and more |
| heightened awareness of the divine reality. | | | | withdrawn in others, retired behind the walls |
| She is inspiration. She is the Muse.If we | | | | of her castle on the Olympus, unseen and |
| look her up in a dictionary or an | | | | unheard by mortal eyes and ears? Do we invent |
| encyclopaedia we come to learn that there | | | | the gods or do the gods invent us? An eternal |
| were originally nine muses, representing the | | | | question to which no clear-cut answer has |
| nine goddesses of arts and science. None | | | | been provided. Perhaps it is a little of |
| other than Zeus was their father. He graced | | | | both.But enough 'musing' on her rich |
| them with melodious names, fitting to their | | | | tradition and past, for the past - as they |
| high positions: Calliope, Clio, Erato, | | | | say - is dust. What you and I want to know is |
| Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, | | | | how we can successfully invoke the muse here |
| Thalia and Urania. A temple erected in their | | | | and now; how we can tempt or persuade her to |
| honour was called a 'Mouseion', a name we now | | | | descend from her pink cloud and mingle with |
| give to the venue where the fruits of their | | | | our crying efforts, so that we can create |
| inspiration can be found: the museum.It was | | | | something beautiful, something worthwhile, |
| not wise to contend with these high-learned | | | | lasting and satisfying. For too often have we |
| gals, as the daughters of king Pierus found | | | | endured her cold silence and the empty hours |
| out when they entered into a singing | | | | of her absence. Too often were we to rely on |
| competition with the muses and were badly | | | | our own limited faculties, forced to be |
| defeated. The muses were not satisfied with | | | | satisfied with mediocrity. Yet when she |
| victory alone, for legend has it they changed | | | | finally shows herself, she leaves too early, |
| the nine princesses into magpies. The Sirens | | | | before her work is properly done and we are |
| - mythological creatures with the body of a | | | | left with two sublime lines of poetry or a |
| bird and the head of a woman - whose | | | | few inspired brush strokes while the rest of |
| enchanting and spellbinding songs issued from | | | | the painting and poem are doomed to the |
| their rock in the sea sent many a sailor to | | | | well-meaning sweat of our human brow, missing |
| an early sea-grave, also tried their luck and | | | | their promising claims to immortality.So how |
| pitted their musical skill against that of | | | | can we capture the muse permanently and bind |
| the muses. The Sirens suffered not only | | | | her to us irrevocably? When looking at and |
| defeat, but also the loss of their feathers, | | | | observing the lives of the great Masters of |
| as the muses plucked them out to make crowns | | | | art, there seems to be only one answer: one |
| out of.The lesson learned is that one should | | | | needs to practise diligently, ceaselessly and |
| not compete with muses. But instead of | | | | untiringly. Practise makes perfect, as the |
| competing with them, one can invoke their | | | | old adage goes. |
| presence and let their inspiration's flow | | | | |