Why Kalliope?

Kalliope is a variant of the name of the Muse of epic poetry, Calliope. The initial group of writers who brainstormed this poetry exercise email workshop voted Kalliope as the most suitable workshop name. The names of the Muses are popular in the arts, appropriately; Kalliope is also the name of a long-running journal of women's literature and art that just celebrated its 20th anniversary. (No connection, though.)

There are many more than nine Muses these days, but the Elder Sisters still take precedence.

Calliope: epic poetry
Clio: history
Euterpe: lyric poetry
Melpomene: tragedy
Terpsichore: choral dance and song
Erato: love poetry
Polyhymnia: sacred poetry
Urania: astronomy
Thalia: comedy

These Nine, however, have still older Muses. "The sons of Aloeus held that the Muses were three in number, and gave them the names of Melete (Practice), Mneme (Memory) and Aoede (Song)." The original Three Muses, perhaps, inspire our workshop more than any any particular One of the Nine. A poet develops through Memory and Practice, but the end objective is to take wing, in Song.

All of the Nine Muses share their Bards, even Melpomene and Thalia. You can find samples of each Muse's inspirations among our poetry exercises and the writings of our workshop members. Visit our new showcase, The Unicorn Pen, for more.

Another way to sample our membership is to surf our own Kalliope Webring for Students of Poetics.

More about Kalliopi -- Calliope,
with a bit of Greek art
 
Still more at Thalia's Muse101

Kalliope Members' Webring

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Image Copyright © Jonathon Earl Bowser. Used with permission. 

Jonathon Earl Bowser does wonderful renditions of the Muse and other Goddesses.

Graphics and background for this webpage created from Jonathon Bowser's work (with permission) by
the wonderful, incomparable Teri Williams.