Stesichorus

Stesichorus (632–556) was one of the nine canonical lyric poets of Greek antiquity, most well-known for his choral lyric verse on epic themes. Stesichorus, which in Greek means “instructor of choruses,” was a name derived from his professional activity, chorus here referring to the chorus of ancient Greek theater. Stesichorus's poems were often accompanied by a stringed instrument and broke with traditional epic hexameter. The titles of his work listed by scholars from Alexandria suggest that he took the themes of his poems from the traditional epic, including the stories of Helen, Troy, and the Trojan horse and sack of Troy; the Oresteia and Agamemnon's ill-fated homecoming to Mycenae; the labors of Herakles revolving around Cerberus and Geryon; and the legend of the Argonauts.

Stesichorus is most referenced today in conversation with the work of poets who have translated his fragmented poems, including Anne Carson and H.D., both of whom wrote back to Stesichorus in considerable works, Autobiography of Red and Helen in Egypt, respectively. Stesichorus's famous "palinode," a retraction or an apology for offending Helen and incurring her wrath, is at the center of H.D.'s epic text. Carson's work explores the translation of the Geryoneis, a lost work about the monster Geryon and his famed cattle.