Analysis of Ask Priestess Diotima
What divine fervor drives my quill?
Ask Diotima, priestess of Hellenic world.
She will tell you it is Love.
She will declare to you quite solemnly:
It is The Poetics of Becoming.
It is the creative umbilical drive.
It is the creative feminine urge
that drives some mad,
while turning others into saints—
if not philosophers.
Ask Plato; better yet, ask Socrates,
whereof cometh his wisdom.
He, Socrates, holding symposium…
in dialogue only with men…
With men wisened from fermented grape,
their rational mind in furious pursuit
of shallow, impotent perfection…
Haunted—
Haunted by distaff knowledge,
by the wisdom of their mothers…
Their mothers spindle of knowledge…
of ancient knowledge, ever spinning—
And priestess Diotima, then…
in their own time, even in ours as well,
inviting dialectic conjunction
of polarities—
of matter and of spirit.
Informing us, with feminine eloquence
that the creative spark of poetry…
Plato’s Poetics notwithstanding—
emerges from attraction of polarities…
ever transforming to bring order
out of chaos.
And out of this dialectic composition…
that exceeds any binary formation—
ever transforming, and being transformed,
is borne the Poetics of Becoming.
Beyond being is Becoming!
Becoming elevates the restless human soul,
to ethereal Olympian realms…
where, even now, Diotima dwells
in heavenly council with the gods.
The Word of a poet.
Scheme | XXXABXXXCDXEEFXXGXHDHBFXGCIXABCXXGGXBBXXXX I |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10110111 111010101 1111111 1101111100 11011010 11001001001 1100101001 1111 11010011 110100 110101110 110110 110100100 0101011 11110101 11001010001 110100010 10 101110 10101110 11010110 110101010 01011 01111001011 010010010 11 1100110 01011100100 1001011100 11010 010101011 100101110 1110 0111010010 10110100010 1001001001 11011010 01101010 01010010101 1010001001 110111 010010101 011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,425 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 42, 1 |
Lines Amount | 43 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 554 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 108 |
About this poem
In Plato’s Symposium (circa 440 B.C.E.), Plato declares that priestess Diotima of Mantinea instructed Socrates concerning the nuances of the art of divine love, something that Socrates may have struggled to fully comprehend. Diotima, both a priestess and a philosopher of love, in all its creative dimensions, appears indeed to have been a teacher of Socrates. While scholars continue to debate her authenticity, she was mentioned in contemporary accounts in the work of Plato himself, and cannot therefore be discounted for her influence (overt or covert) on the Socratic method of argumentation and discourse. Diotima’s name in Greek means “honored by Zeus,” and this poem honors Diotima by its very title, “Ask Priestess Diotima.” As we honor Diotima Mantinea, let us equally honor all women who, universally, ennoble us in all fields and spheres of speciality. more »
Written on November 16, 2021
Submitted by karlcfolkes on November 16, 2021
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 1:12 min read
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"Ask Priestess Diotima" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/114119/ask-priestess-diotima>.
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