Kallisti

I know that this week is about drama but I really wanted to share a piece of work I wrote recently for my British Literature class. Right now we are finishing up the Victorian Age and every student in the class (all 13 of us) was asked to write a 20+ line Victorian style dramatic monologue. To give a few examples that the public might know, some examples of a dramatic monologue are "My Last Duchess," "Ulysses," and "Dover Beach." So I set forth to conquer this mighty beast and after giving up trying to understand how to make it Victorian I chose a topic and started writing. Oddly enough I started from the middle and went on, then did the beginning, and then returned and finished the ending. I managed to use rhyming couplets (such as AABBCCDD, etc.)  as well as iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line, odd sylleables unstressed, even syllables stressed - or that's how I understand it to be) throughout the poem. I think of it as a masterpiece, but that's because I was able to write it and finish it, too.

The poem is from the Point of View of Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. I can relate this part to drama, seeing that for English 252 we just discussed Oedipus the King. Both Paris and Oedipus were foretold near the time of their birth that they would cause bad things to happen and both of their parents tried to prevent fate from happening by getting rid of the child, but fate catches up with them in the end. 

Kallisti is a Greek word that means "For the most Beautiful." The goddess of discord, Eris, was upset that she had not been invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Achilles' parents) and so she tossed a golden apple with the inscription kallisti into the party. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite fought over it and Zeus sent them to ask Paris to settle the issue. (For more info, here's the Wikipedia page for Paris with the subtopic of the judgement: Wikipedia). That should be enough background to help you understand the poem.

                        Kallisti

One day on Ida’s mount, near spring, I was,

To watch and care for all the sheep because,

I am a shepherd; rais’d, though not born so,

They say that I a prince should be, I know

It’s hard to comprehend, but by my looks                                          5

It is well known. I sat with my sheep hook,

And then before my eyes appear’d the three,

Athena, Hera, Aphrodite; see

They all were want to be quite flatter’d; each

Of them, they offer’d me a gift, a peach,                                           10

A bounty, off’ring, charity: if I

But could decide. In my right mind, decline

I might have done, but nay, I chose that day

The one with which my future path did lay.

What did they offer? I will share with you:                                       15

From one was wisdom, skill; another, two,

Said power, land; the last, she said I could

Be giv’n the hand of one so fair. I would

From then regret that choice (so some do hope)

For with my Helen fair I did elope.                                                    20

Was she married? Well yes she was, but we

Were meant from start, forever one to be;

The Greeks, her spouse, did not like this at all,

And yes, this is when I began to fall.

This way was destined from the start of life,                                     25

According to the prophecy, brought strife

I to my family and people in

My home, the wondrous city, Troy; for when

They came, they fought to get her back and lo

Did win; and soon will I live deep below,                                          30

The earth is now prepared for me, it knows,

‘Tis time to die and soon, I soon will go.