EpicureaPoetica—Epicurean Themes in Poetry [Video Project]

In our recent meeting I mentioned an idea I've been kicking around lately. This is a thread to flesh out the project, and to invite comment and feedback.

Recent major projects have been the group reading of DeWitt, and the ongoing and very dedicated podcast on the close reading of Lucretius. We have additionally been enriched by the rebirth of a classical tradition; the 'feast' (or celebration) and meeting of the Twentieth. These have been excellent and informative, as well as richly inspiring!

But there is as well a large and mostly formless mass of secondary literature pertaining to our school, and I feel that there is an opportunity here to shed new light on some of it.

Working on the model of LatinPerDiem, I envision brief, simple and crisp presentations exploring the shorter poetic works of Epicureans and their detractors: Horace and Virgil; Philodemus, Anacreon, and Catullus; Frederick the Great, Edmund Spenser, and Alfred Tennyson. Lucretius was particularly influential, and the borrowings innumerable, so there will be a lot to work with.

The planned first 'Episode' will explore themes of madness, death and suicide in Tennyson's masterful Victorian poem "Lucretius". I am still looking for a proper and corrected sample of the text, but in the mean time I have been studying the poem Here.

One key to my analysis will be a short section of another of Tennyson's poems, which you can find Here. Careful readers will notice the certain allusion to Lucretius that doubtfully concludes the passage. (I'll post this passage later when I find it.)

If you happen to read the poem and there are points you would like to see touched upon, I encourage you to post them here! I look forward to putting this together.

-Joshua

I've secured the necessary domain and gmail address, so I can tentatively announce EpicureaPoetica as the name of the 'show'. The Latin is slightly clunky, but I suppose "Of the Poetry of the Epicurean Tradition" would be a loose translation. Mainly I derive it from Epicurea, which was a collection of fragments compiled by Usener, and Poetica, which of course is the Latin for poetry as well as the title of a work by Horace (Ars Poetica).

The software I've downloaded for the task;

OBS Studio--Screen Recording software

EpicPen--Screen marking tool, for basic visual annotations of the text

Audacity--Audio recording, although OBS Studio has a native audio client that I'll try first.

And an idea I had for flavor art;

Which is a software cartoonification of this image;

(The yellow ribbon is a watermark of sorts; I would have to actually pay for the photo editor or find an alternative to do it properly. BeFunky is the name that popped up in case anyone wants to play around with it)

Further work on the logo/art;

With space for project title;

And a longer version as a banner;

What I really need now is a good text editor with a block font that works well with this art style! Hoping to record something tomorrow evening.

-josh

And a timeless quandary; to what extent are photographs of these old sculptures protected by copyright?

Quote

Call it fair use (unless you're making money) and derivative works.

Perfect!

I've been reading further as well.

I have identified the copyright holder of the photograph. The image is available on several stock image sites, all sourced back to one individual; apparently this is common for photographers to license their images through several different outlets simultaneously. I would be willing to pay a nominal fee--less than $100, say--for such a license, except that the terms of the licenses on offer are so convoluted and opaque. I would probably be fine regardless; but in order to be free of any and all trouble forever (a fine goal!), I think I will choose a different photo to work off of.

I have also found, looking through Wikimedia Commons, that several photographs of busts of Epicurus are already offered either in the public domain, or under a Creative Commons license. That's likely the route I'll go, but I'll also keep looking.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248475?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=epicurus&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1

This image is listed as public domain by the museum that holds it. At some point we should think about a central location for all images of Epicurus known to be in the public domain.

Cassius, do you happen to know anything about the current curator of Erik Anderson's old site? He has an image of the same bust I used above; an artful photo which he took himself at the Capitoline Museum in Rome. It would be the perfect photo to use--a fine portrait of Epicurus, as well as an homage to one of the early Epicureans of the internet age. I'm asking as a prelude to writing the webmaster--I just don't know where that e-mail will land!