A Note On Enheduanna

[browngirl]

Or, A Bronze-Age Poetess, and Me.

When ysabetwordsmith posted about Poetry Through The Ages recently she mentioned Enheduanna; when I was reading about her I saw this:

138 With "It is enough for me, it oh exalted lady, (to this song)
Is too much for me! I have for you. given birth

139 That which I recited to you at (mid)night

140 May the singer repeat it to you at noon!

Which resonated with me, as a writer, and also...

...the woman herself has been dust for over 4000 years. I'm reading her thought on an item she couldn't've imagined, in a language that arose millennia after she died, in a land she never knew of, wearing clothes that would boggle her, I suspect. And yet her words echo in my heart.

I love that about poetry.

Anyway. A few Enheduanna links:

http://www.public.asu.edu/~rbinkle/enheduanna.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/enheduanna/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enheduanna

Comments

[brownbetty]

I didn't know anything about this woman! This is awesome!

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*beams at you*