SOURCE: George B. Walsh, "Enchanting Praise: Euripides and the Uses of Song," in The Varieties of Enchantment: Early Greek Views of the Nature and Function of Poetry, The University of North Carolina Press, 1984, pp. 106-26.

In the following essay, Walsh discusses the relationship between enchanting poetry and poetry of praise as they are defined, developed, and divided in Euripidean drama.

Poetry has two virtues according to Homer. It is truthful and also pleasing, truthful in commemorating "famous deeds" and pleasing because it enchants: men are freed from self-consciousness, from the sense of present trials and personal need, as long as they hear the poet's song. Hesiod's poetry offers similar benefits, which he calls "memory" and "forgetfulness of cares." Pindar offers his audience a charm against anxiety, disappointment, and strife by truthfully displaying the splendor of human excellence. Apparently, then, the archaic poets describe their art according to a...