A.E. Stallings: the Parthenon Marbles, Poets, and Artists

My wife thought I was being a bit excessive. On a trip to England in 2024, I was insistent that we see the Parthenon Marbles, aka the Elgin Marbles, at the British Museum. We had seen them several times before, but, in 2023, the room housing them was inexplicably closed (no explanation given, just “closed”), as debate over their future was intensifying.

The Greeks want the marbles back; British traditionalists want them to stay. British law requires the marbles (and other artifacts) to remain in Britain, although exceptions can be made. 

 

In 2024, the exhibition room was open. It’s a large room, a fitting space for these marvelous sculptures. We spent a good hour there, walking among the marbles, reading the information cards, and wondering what they must have looked like on the Parthenon itself as a frieze, and as a painted frieze. We may admire the artistry of the marble-white sculptures, but the ancient Greeks like theirs painted and colorful. 

 

American poet A.E. Stallings undertook a project during the COVID lockdown. She began to research the Parthenon Marbles and the role that poets and artists have had in framing the debate about ownership and possession. That research became Frieze Frame: How Poets, Painters, and their Friends Framed the Debate Around Elgin and the Marbles of the Parthenon. (I rather like her title finesses the differing approaches to the sculptures’ name – and thus ownership.) 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

The Memory of a Garden – Andrew Menkis at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

“Prologue in Heaven” from Faust by Goethe – translation by Josh Olson at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Identity – poem by Monica Silva at Every Day Poems.

 

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”, poem by William Shakespeare – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.