lyre

Once upon a time, Zeus spent nine consecutive nights sleeping with Mnemosyne, the Titan goddess of memory. These passionate nights gave birth to the nine Muses. The Muses are Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Urania, Calliope, and Clio. Many centuries later, the Muses were honored in the writings of poets, authors, and painters such as Shakespeare, Milton, Dante and Rossetti. In the opening line of his Henry V, Shakespeare refers to the “Muse of fire”, and Milton beseeches the “Heav’nly Muse” to sing at the beginning of his Paradise Lost. By invoking a muse at the opening of their works, Shakespeare and Milton carried on a centuries-old custom. Written thousands of years before their time, the epic poem Iliad