Anacreontea

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A short light-hearted lyric poem written in the manner of the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, usually celebrating wine, love and pleasure
2. A brief playful verse modeled on the convivial love poetry of the Greek lyricist Anacreon and his followers
3. Any short graceful poem imitating the wine-loving, amorous style of the sixth-century Greek poet Anacreon

Etymology: Anacreon was a Greek lyric poet of Teos who wrote about wine, love, and song in the sixth century BC, but the poems gathered under this title were not his. They are later imitations, composed in his light, convivial style over several centuries, some perhaps as late as the Byzantine period. The title is the Greek neuter plural of the adjective "Anakreonteios," meaning "Anacreontic things," so it refers to a collection rather than to a single work. The collection survived in manuscripts until the printer Henri Estienne published the poems alongside Anacreon's genuine fragments in 1554, and the imitations helped define the "Anacreontic" manner for European poets. The name then escaped into English as an adjective for drinking songs and verse on wine and love. In London in 1766, the Anacreontic Society took Anacreon as its patron, and one of its members' songs, "To Anacreon in Heaven," later became the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner."