Demosthenes, Sophocles, and Sisyphus

I wonder at the categorization of style, the means of determining what makes one writer unique from another. Certainly, in a gut way, differences are easy to determine even to a casual reader: Elevated vs. plain language, complex vs. simple sentence structure, literal or figurative language, parallelism or variation. But the subtle differences beyond that are much hard to distinctively see much less reproduce. I am of course referring to my own current situation (I never seem to completely divorce myself from present circumstances - ta paronta, to Plato) in which I find myself instructed to take a speech from Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus to be exact, and re-write it in the style of Demosthenes. All in Greek, naturally, which is enough of a challenge to begin with. I have read a small bit of Demosthenes, enough that I can see a difference in his writing and the iambic trimeter of Creon's words, but to cognitate (yes, that "n" is on purpose) well enough upon something to reproduce its kinsman is far from an easy task. It seems to fall under the same type of mental exercise of trying to learn to speak a language you've only ever read, or to write one (especially formally) you've only ever spoken. The brain is wired in a one-way pattern and suddenly the duality must be forced upon it.

I was thinking tonight, as I often have in the past, of using this space for some kind of linguistic exercise of trying to write the same thing every night for a week but in a different style, or from a different point of view. I don't know what to start with - a description of my surroundings? An encyclopedia entry? A paragraph from a novel or non-fiction piece? As I find myself in this very instant I am overwhelmed by the possibilities, stuck in gaping awe of the magnitude of what I would attempt, particularly would I try to emulate the style of a certain author each night. Whose work do I truly know well enough to attempt such a thing? My outside reading would definitely need to become more focused and I wonder if, even so, I could manage such a thing well enough that even you would know the author, or at least be able to see the difference. I think even more fascinating would be to have the first attempted style be my own, as well as the last (whatever style I may lay claim to, I suppose). To evaluate the influence of others upon me. To see how perspectives can change based upon context and recent memory and the revelations of another. I would hope to learn and change and become a fuller version of myself. Perhaps I will never attempt this more out of fear of my own rigidity than the lack of a good starting place, or organizing framework. Maybe someday I will take up this burden and successfully bear it as far as I desire. As long as the boulder doesn't come crashing back to the same place every night I am sure I can be satisfied.