To Speak Like a Bird: Beyond a Literary Topos

The idea that poets can understand and imitate the birds’ voice is much more than a literary topos. In this paper an anthropological approach and the theory of inconscious formulated by Ignacio Matte Blanco cast a new light on the ancient Greek sources that provide important evidence on the topic (Alcman, Hesiod and Aristotle in primis). Poets can understand the language of the birds because they are special gifted men, like seers and prophets. The interesting history of Wakdjûnkaga the trickster demonstrates that these maîtres de verité can experience in everyday life what was common to all human beings during the prehistoric Age.