Love has no wings
[Ancient Greece] Eupolis
I don’t know who is the first among humans
Add wings to cupid with pen or wax?
He could not draw anything else but swallows.
He had no experience of the temperament of this god.
It is never easy for people suffering from this disease.
It is never easy to get rid of it easily.
He is so heavy, how can he have wings?
Anyone who says there is is a fool.
(Selected from "Dictionary of Appreciation of World Famous Poems")
Appreciation
The first thing to point out is that the God of Love in this poem refers to Little Ai God Eros. In ancient art, he was depicted as a handsome young man carrying a bow and arrows and flying in the air with wings. Later, he became younger and younger, and turned into a baby in the Hellenistic period.
The author of the poem "Love Has No Wings" discovered a potential contradiction in him through his concern for the image of the little God of Love: "He is so heavy, how can he still have wings?" With wings?" The author started from this point, not only criticizing the first person who "added wings to the God of Love with a pen or wax", but also speculated that "he couldn't draw anything else, he could only draw swallows. He has no experience of the nature of love" and ultimately concluded that all those who think that the God of Love has wings are "fools".
The author Eupolis (429 BC - 411 BC) was a comic poet in ancient Greece. His works have beautiful words, strange imagination, full of wit, and often reveal spicy and biting satire. and teasing. To a certain extent, this poem can be said to be a concrete embodiment of the poet's creative style. But the most commendable thing about this poem is that the object it chooses to describe is the little cupid, who has always been lively and lovely in people's minds. After some dissection from shallow to deep, we can find that the genes of this little cupid were originally heavy and unbearable. The author expresses what others have not said and speaks of what others have not said. This in itself is the greatest sincerity, because although love can bring joy to people, in essence, it is indeed as the poet said: "Suffering from this disease It is never easy for a person suffering from a disease, and it is never easy to get rid of it easily.
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(Ren Wu)