Hidden poetry

Erina was a Greek poet of the 4th century BC, whose most famous work contains 26 legible verses, out of a total of 54, corresponding to different parts of the poem. Originally, this poem, called The Distaff, was 300 lines long. It is a lament for the death of her friend Baucis and an evocation of a childhood lost and spent with her. She was born on the island of Telos, now Tilos, in Greece, near Kos, where she seems to have studied. She was much admired in her time and praised by later poets for the maturity of her writing despite her young age, as it seems she wrote this poem at the age of 15.

The activity on an excerpt from The Distaff consists of several parts. In the first one, you must read the text, reflect on it and answer the questions. In the second part, based on the interpretation you have made of the reading, draw on cardboard what the poem has suggested to you and stick or copy the text. The third part consists of selecting and marking on the text those words or expressions that have had the greatest impact on you, so that they form a small poem to which you will give a title. 

Fragment of The Distaff 

…and those game, Baucis, remember? 
Two white horses, four frenzied feet – and one Tortoise 
to your hare: ‘Caught you,’ I cried, ‘You’re Mrs Tortoise now.’ 
But when your turn came at last to catch the catcher 
you raced on far beyond us, out from the great shell 
of our smoke-filled yard… 
 
                  … Baucis, these tears are your embers 
and my memorial, traces glowing in my heart, 
now all that we once shared has turned to ash … 
 
                                                                        … as girls 
we played weddings with our dolls, brides in our soft beds, 
or sometimes I was ‘mother’ allotting dawn wool 
to the women, calling for you to help spin out 
the thread … 
 
                       …and our terror (remember?) of Mormo 
the monster – big ears, long tongue, forever flapping, 
her frenzy on all fours, those changing shapes – a trap 
for girls who had lost their way … 
 
                                           … But when you set sail 
for a man’s bed, Baucis, you let it slip away, 
forgot the lessons you had learnt from your ‘mother’ 
in those far-off days – no, never forgot; that thief 
Desire stole all memory away… 
 
                                                          … My lost friend, 
here is my lament: I can’t bear that dark death-bed, 
can’t bring myself to step outside my door, won’t look 
on your stone face, won’t cry or cut my hair for shame … 
 
But Baucis this crimson grief 
                                                          is tearing me in two … 
 
Balmer, J., Translating Fragments II: Erinna’s Distaff. The Paths of Survival <https://thepathsofsurvival.co.uk/2012/10/05/translating-fragments-ii-erinnas-distaff/> 

Amongst other ideas, this work speaks about childhood games and tasks that she shared with her friend Baucis. 

   1. What games does it refer to? 
   2. Which "female" tasks are mentioned? 
   3. Which goddess appears in the text and why? 
   4. Which childhood fear appears? What do you identify it with? 
   5. Why is the poem so sad? 
   6. What biographic information about Erinna can you extract from the text? 
   7. Extract and copy the words which are linked to the feminine sphere. 
   8. Despite the fact that there are many works of this typology in literature and the obvious referent that Erinna constitutes in this sense, her work is not known, why do you think this happens?