Description:In Greek mythology Calliope is the muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice.
The records of this society commenced in 1890 but this volume is open at 1904-5, identifying 'Cymbeline' as the current reading.
Cymbeline is a play by William Shakespeare, set in ancient Britain and based on legends of Britain concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobeline. listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy. Like Othello and The Winters Tale , it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was produced as early as 1611.
The Calliope was a women's society founded in March 1890, to hold weekly meetings for the reading and discussion of poetry and plays. The preliminary meeting on 7 March 1890 drew up rules which limited membership to sixteen women, the meetings to be held from October to April, the literature to be chosen in advance and prepared beforehand, and a record to be kept of attendance, poems read etc.
The membership included women from most of Birmingham's well known non-conformist families: Chamberlain, Nettlefold, Crosskey, Bartlett, Cadbury,Tangye, Martineau, Sturge and others. Poetry selections included: Browning, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Shakespeare, classical works in translation, Elizabethan verse, Chaucer, Yeats, Synge etc.