‘From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing’ The muse of
epic poetry Some of my students find it outrageous that I would
ask them to actually walk into a library and find print sources
for their research. They believe that they can find everything
they need to know online — and in some cases they might be
correct. At eHow.com, you can learn “How to Build a Concrete
Storm Shelter” or “How to Clean Your Coffee Maker With Vinegar.”
Using the information collated there, a friend of mine renovated
an entire house to ready it for sale. But wait, there’s more:
should you decide to write an epic poem, eHow breaks the process
down into seven easy steps. Here are steps one through three: 1)
Write a brief statement of the poem’s purpose before you begin
recounting the story — say, to detail your dog Champ’s heroic
crusade against backyard birds — followed by an invocation of
the Muse. 2) Give a short, general outline of the action of the
poem in the statement of the poem’s purpose. 3) Invoke the Muse
next by first p