Cyclic Poets
Preserved but no longer current.
Epic poets who, on the death of Homer, caught the contagion of his poems, and wrote continuations, illustra- tions, or additions thereto. These poets wrote between 800 and 550 B.C., and were called cyclic because they confined themselves to the cycle of the Trojan war. The chief were Agias, Arctmos, Eugamon, Lesches, and Strasinos.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Cyclic Poets” mean?
Epic poets who, on the death of Homer, caught the contagion of his poems, and wrote continuations, illustra- tions, or additions thereto. These poets wrote between 800 and 550 B.C., and were called cyclic because they confined themselves to the cycle of the Trojan war. The chief were Agias, Arctmos, Eugamon, Lesches, and Strasinos.
Is “Cyclic Poets” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.