A. P. David
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199292400
- eISBN:
- 9780191711855
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199292400.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book develops an authentic and revolutionary musical analysis of ancient Greek poetry. It brings the interpretation of ancient verse into step with the sorts of analyses customarily enjoyed by ...
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This book develops an authentic and revolutionary musical analysis of ancient Greek poetry. It brings the interpretation of ancient verse into step with the sorts of analyses customarily enjoyed by works in all the more recent poetical and musical traditions. It departs from the abstract metrical analyses of the past in that it conceives the rhythmic and harmonic elements of poetry as integral to the whole expression, and decisive in the interpretation of its meaning. Such an analysis is now possible because of a new theory of the Greek tonic accent, set out in the third chapter, and its application to Greek poetry understood as choreia — the proper name for the art and work of ancient poets in both epic and lyric, described by Plato as a synthesis of dance rhythm and vocal harmony, in disagreement moving toward agreement. The book offers a thorough-going treatment of Homeric poetics: here some remarkable discoveries in the harmonic movement of epic verse, when combined with some neglected facts about the origin of the hexameter in a ‘dance of the Muses’, lead to essential new thinking about the genesis and the form of Homeric poetry. The book also gives a foretaste of the fruits to be harvested in lyric by a musical analysis, applying the new theory of the accent and considering concretely the role of dance in performance.Less
This book develops an authentic and revolutionary musical analysis of ancient Greek poetry. It brings the interpretation of ancient verse into step with the sorts of analyses customarily enjoyed by works in all the more recent poetical and musical traditions. It departs from the abstract metrical analyses of the past in that it conceives the rhythmic and harmonic elements of poetry as integral to the whole expression, and decisive in the interpretation of its meaning. Such an analysis is now possible because of a new theory of the Greek tonic accent, set out in the third chapter, and its application to Greek poetry understood as choreia — the proper name for the art and work of ancient poets in both epic and lyric, described by Plato as a synthesis of dance rhythm and vocal harmony, in disagreement moving toward agreement. The book offers a thorough-going treatment of Homeric poetics: here some remarkable discoveries in the harmonic movement of epic verse, when combined with some neglected facts about the origin of the hexameter in a ‘dance of the Muses’, lead to essential new thinking about the genesis and the form of Homeric poetry. The book also gives a foretaste of the fruits to be harvested in lyric by a musical analysis, applying the new theory of the accent and considering concretely the role of dance in performance.
Ralph Rosen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309966
- eISBN:
- 9780199789443
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309966.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their ...
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This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their relationships with audiences, in accordance with a set of common poetic principles, protocols, and tropes. It encourages a synoptic, synchronic view of such poetry, from archaic iambus through Roman satire, and argues that only when we appreciate how an abstracted “poetics of mockery” governs individual poets can we fully understand how such poetry functioned diachronically in its own historical moment. The book examines in particular the strategies deployed by satirical poets to enlist the sympathies of a putative audience and convince them of the legitimacy of their personal attacks. It discusses the tension deliberately created by such poets between self-righteous didactic claims and a persistent desire to undermine them, and concludes that such poetry was felt by ancient audiences to achieve its greatest success as comedy precisely when they were left unable to ascribe to the satirist any consistent moral position. Several early chapters look to Greek myth for paradigms of comic mockery, and argue that these myths can illuminate the ways in which ancient audiences conceptualized specifically poeticized forms of satire. Poets addressed in this part of the book include Archilochus, Hipponax, Horace, Homer, Aristophanes, and Theocritus. Two chapters follow which address the satirical poetics of Callimachus and Juvenal, and a final chapter on the question of how ancient audiences responded the inherently controversial elements of such poetry.Less
This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their relationships with audiences, in accordance with a set of common poetic principles, protocols, and tropes. It encourages a synoptic, synchronic view of such poetry, from archaic iambus through Roman satire, and argues that only when we appreciate how an abstracted “poetics of mockery” governs individual poets can we fully understand how such poetry functioned diachronically in its own historical moment. The book examines in particular the strategies deployed by satirical poets to enlist the sympathies of a putative audience and convince them of the legitimacy of their personal attacks. It discusses the tension deliberately created by such poets between self-righteous didactic claims and a persistent desire to undermine them, and concludes that such poetry was felt by ancient audiences to achieve its greatest success as comedy precisely when they were left unable to ascribe to the satirist any consistent moral position. Several early chapters look to Greek myth for paradigms of comic mockery, and argue that these myths can illuminate the ways in which ancient audiences conceptualized specifically poeticized forms of satire. Poets addressed in this part of the book include Archilochus, Hipponax, Horace, Homer, Aristophanes, and Theocritus. Two chapters follow which address the satirical poetics of Callimachus and Juvenal, and a final chapter on the question of how ancient audiences responded the inherently controversial elements of such poetry.
Simon Hornblower
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199249190
- eISBN:
- 9780191719424
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249190.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This part of the book demonstrates an intertextual relationship between the prose of Thucydides and the poetry of Pindar and Bacchylides. This chapter attempts to justify the procedures followed, and ...
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This part of the book demonstrates an intertextual relationship between the prose of Thucydides and the poetry of Pindar and Bacchylides. This chapter attempts to justify the procedures followed, and addresses possible objections.Less
This part of the book demonstrates an intertextual relationship between the prose of Thucydides and the poetry of Pindar and Bacchylides. This chapter attempts to justify the procedures followed, and addresses possible objections.
Benjamin Sammons
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195375688
- eISBN:
- 9780199871599
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375688.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This study takes a fresh look at a familiar element of the Homeric epics—the poetic catalogue. It aims to uncover the great variety of functions fulfilled by catalogue as a manner of speech within ...
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This study takes a fresh look at a familiar element of the Homeric epics—the poetic catalogue. It aims to uncover the great variety of functions fulfilled by catalogue as a manner of speech within very different contexts, ranging from celebrated examples such as the poet’s famous “Catalogue of Ships,” to others less commonly treated under this rubric, such as catalogues within the speech and rhetoric of Homer’s characters or seemingly unassuming catalogues of objects. It shows that catalogue poetry is no ossified or primitive relic of the old tradition, but a living subgenre of poetry that is deployed by Homer in a creative and original way. The catalogue form may be exploited by the poet or his characters to reflect or distort the themes of the poem as a whole, to impose an interpretation on events of the narrative as they unfold, and possibly to allude to competing poetic traditions or even contemporaneous poems. Throughout, the study focuses on how Homer uses the catalogue form to talk about the epic genre itself: As a compendious and venerable poetic form, it allows the poet to explore the boundaries of the heroic world, the limits of heroic glory, and the ideals and realities of his own traditional role as an epic bard.Less
This study takes a fresh look at a familiar element of the Homeric epics—the poetic catalogue. It aims to uncover the great variety of functions fulfilled by catalogue as a manner of speech within very different contexts, ranging from celebrated examples such as the poet’s famous “Catalogue of Ships,” to others less commonly treated under this rubric, such as catalogues within the speech and rhetoric of Homer’s characters or seemingly unassuming catalogues of objects. It shows that catalogue poetry is no ossified or primitive relic of the old tradition, but a living subgenre of poetry that is deployed by Homer in a creative and original way. The catalogue form may be exploited by the poet or his characters to reflect or distort the themes of the poem as a whole, to impose an interpretation on events of the narrative as they unfold, and possibly to allude to competing poetic traditions or even contemporaneous poems. Throughout, the study focuses on how Homer uses the catalogue form to talk about the epic genre itself: As a compendious and venerable poetic form, it allows the poet to explore the boundaries of the heroic world, the limits of heroic glory, and the ideals and realities of his own traditional role as an epic bard.
Mark Turner
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195126679
- eISBN:
- 9780199853007
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195126679.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This book ranges from the tools of modern linguistics, to the recent work of neuroscientists such as Antonio Damasio and Gerald Edelman, to literary masterpieces by Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and ...
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This book ranges from the tools of modern linguistics, to the recent work of neuroscientists such as Antonio Damasio and Gerald Edelman, to literary masterpieces by Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Proust, to explain how story and projection — and their powerful combination in parable — are fundamental to everyday thought. In simple and traditional English, the author reveals how we use parable to understand space and time, to grasp what it means to be located in space and time, and to conceive of ourselves, other selves, other lives, and other viewpoints. He explains the role of parable in reasoning, in categorizing, and in solving problems. He develops a powerful model of conceptual construction and, in a far-reaching final chapter, extends it to a new conception of the origin of language that contradicts proposals by such thinkers as Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker. This book argues that story, projection, and parable precede grammar, and that language follows from these mental capacities as a consequence. The author concludes that language is the child of the literary mind. Offering revisions to our understanding of thought, conceptual activity, and the origin and nature of language, The Literary Mind presents a unified theory of central problems in cognitive science, linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy.Less
This book ranges from the tools of modern linguistics, to the recent work of neuroscientists such as Antonio Damasio and Gerald Edelman, to literary masterpieces by Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Proust, to explain how story and projection — and their powerful combination in parable — are fundamental to everyday thought. In simple and traditional English, the author reveals how we use parable to understand space and time, to grasp what it means to be located in space and time, and to conceive of ourselves, other selves, other lives, and other viewpoints. He explains the role of parable in reasoning, in categorizing, and in solving problems. He develops a powerful model of conceptual construction and, in a far-reaching final chapter, extends it to a new conception of the origin of language that contradicts proposals by such thinkers as Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker. This book argues that story, projection, and parable precede grammar, and that language follows from these mental capacities as a consequence. The author concludes that language is the child of the literary mind. Offering revisions to our understanding of thought, conceptual activity, and the origin and nature of language, The Literary Mind presents a unified theory of central problems in cognitive science, linguistics, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy.
Robin Sowerby
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199286126
- eISBN:
- 9780191713873
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286126.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
Where previous studies of ‘Augustanism’ have concentrated largely upon political concerns, this book explores the translation of the Roman Augustan aesthetic into a vernacular equivalent by English ...
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Where previous studies of ‘Augustanism’ have concentrated largely upon political concerns, this book explores the translation of the Roman Augustan aesthetic into a vernacular equivalent by English neoclassical poets and does so through the analysis of translations. It has its genesis in the claim made implicitly by Dryden at the conclusion of his Virgil that he had given English poetry the kind of refinement in language and style that Virgil had given the Latin. The opening chapter explores the mediation of the Augustan aesthetic to the early Renaissance by way of the De Arte Poetica of the neo Latin Renaissance poet Vida, represented here in the Augustan version of Pitt. The second chapter charts early English engagements with the classical inheritance before moving on to its chief focus, Dryden's relation to his early predecessors in the refinement of the heroic couplet, Denham and Waller, and the establishment of the full Augustan aesthetic represented in Dryden's Virgil. The third and fourth chapters consider the effect of the Augustan aesthetic upon the translation of silver Latin poets, concentrating on Dryden's Persius and Juvenal, Rowe's Lucan and Pope's Statius and finally on the climactic Augustan achievement, Pope's Homer. The distinguishing strengths of Augustan poetic artistry are shown to advantage in a brief epilogue juxtaposing Augustan and modern versions.Less
Where previous studies of ‘Augustanism’ have concentrated largely upon political concerns, this book explores the translation of the Roman Augustan aesthetic into a vernacular equivalent by English neoclassical poets and does so through the analysis of translations. It has its genesis in the claim made implicitly by Dryden at the conclusion of his Virgil that he had given English poetry the kind of refinement in language and style that Virgil had given the Latin. The opening chapter explores the mediation of the Augustan aesthetic to the early Renaissance by way of the De Arte Poetica of the neo Latin Renaissance poet Vida, represented here in the Augustan version of Pitt. The second chapter charts early English engagements with the classical inheritance before moving on to its chief focus, Dryden's relation to his early predecessors in the refinement of the heroic couplet, Denham and Waller, and the establishment of the full Augustan aesthetic represented in Dryden's Virgil. The third and fourth chapters consider the effect of the Augustan aesthetic upon the translation of silver Latin poets, concentrating on Dryden's Persius and Juvenal, Rowe's Lucan and Pope's Statius and finally on the climactic Augustan achievement, Pope's Homer. The distinguishing strengths of Augustan poetic artistry are shown to advantage in a brief epilogue juxtaposing Augustan and modern versions.
Elizabeth Minchin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199280124
- eISBN:
- 9780191707070
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280124.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and ...
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Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and cognitive psychology, the book considers the speeches in Homer from two perspectives, as cognitive and as social phenomena. Part I explores the role of memory in the generation of Homer's speech forms; and the relationship between Homeric voices and the speech of the poet's everyday world. It is suggested that speech acts such as rebukes and the declining of invitations, and question forms and the pattern of hysteron-proteron so familiar to us in Homer, have their origins in pre-patterned forms of everyday speech; and that even the discourse strategies that underpin Homeric questions are recognizable to us from everyday talk. Part II formulates responses to the question of whether Homer reveals consistent differences in his representation of men's and women's talk. Men's and women's speech-habits are examined in order to detect whether there is a male preference for speech acts such as rebukes (a dominant mode) and a female preference for protests (a co-operative mode); and whether the use of information questions, directives, interruption, and even storytelling content and style can be identified with men's and women's different speaking styles. The absence of clearcut and consistent findings on this question does not diminish the value of the original question.Less
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and cognitive psychology, the book considers the speeches in Homer from two perspectives, as cognitive and as social phenomena. Part I explores the role of memory in the generation of Homer's speech forms; and the relationship between Homeric voices and the speech of the poet's everyday world. It is suggested that speech acts such as rebukes and the declining of invitations, and question forms and the pattern of hysteron-proteron so familiar to us in Homer, have their origins in pre-patterned forms of everyday speech; and that even the discourse strategies that underpin Homeric questions are recognizable to us from everyday talk. Part II formulates responses to the question of whether Homer reveals consistent differences in his representation of men's and women's talk. Men's and women's speech-habits are examined in order to detect whether there is a male preference for speech acts such as rebukes (a dominant mode) and a female preference for protests (a co-operative mode); and whether the use of information questions, directives, interruption, and even storytelling content and style can be identified with men's and women's different speaking styles. The absence of clearcut and consistent findings on this question does not diminish the value of the original question.
Gian Biagio Conte
S. J. Harrison (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199287017
- eISBN:
- 9780191713262
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287017.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This volume presents a collection of pieces from a celebrated world-class scholar and interpreter of Latin poetry, focusing on the interpretation of Virgil's Aeneid. It forms the sequel to two widely ...
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This volume presents a collection of pieces from a celebrated world-class scholar and interpreter of Latin poetry, focusing on the interpretation of Virgil's Aeneid. It forms the sequel to two widely influential earlier books on Virgil by the same author and translates and adds to a collection of papers published in Italian in 2002. Its central concern is the way in which Virgil reworks earlier poetry (especially that of Homer) at the most detailed level to produce very broad literary and emotional effects. Through detailed scholarly analysis, the book explores a central issue in Virgilian studies, that of how the Aeneid manages to create a new and effective mode of epic in a period when the genre appears to be debased or exhausted.Less
This volume presents a collection of pieces from a celebrated world-class scholar and interpreter of Latin poetry, focusing on the interpretation of Virgil's Aeneid. It forms the sequel to two widely influential earlier books on Virgil by the same author and translates and adds to a collection of papers published in Italian in 2002. Its central concern is the way in which Virgil reworks earlier poetry (especially that of Homer) at the most detailed level to produce very broad literary and emotional effects. Through detailed scholarly analysis, the book explores a central issue in Virgilian studies, that of how the Aeneid manages to create a new and effective mode of epic in a period when the genre appears to be debased or exhausted.
Rudolf Kassel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199285686
- eISBN:
- 9780191713958
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285686.003.0024
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
‘Aristoteles philosophorum, ne Platone quidem iuxta M. Tullium excepto, citra controversiam omnium doctissimus’ — so Erasmus, in the preface to the 1531 Basle edition of Aristotle, informs his ...
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‘Aristoteles philosophorum, ne Platone quidem iuxta M. Tullium excepto, citra controversiam omnium doctissimus’ — so Erasmus, in the preface to the 1531 Basle edition of Aristotle, informs his dedicatee John More — ‘dicere solet, liberalium disciplinarum radices quidem subamaras esse, fructus vero dulcissimos. Quod idem rectius, utpote poeta, significare videtur Homerus quum, depingens Moly, herbarum praestantissimam et adversus omne maleficiorum genus efficacissimam, ait eam radice nigra esse, sed flore lacteo candidoque’. The assertion that Homer said the same thing as the Philosopher rectius, utpote poeta, must have caused many a reader to cudgel his brains in vain since the first edition. This chapter argues that what Erasmus meant has been rendered unrecognizable by a misprinted letter: tectius, utpote poeta. Cf. Ratio verae theolog. LB v p. 85 F ‘quod alibi dictum est tectius, alibi dilucidius refertur' and Adag. 1701 (ASD II 4 p. 151. 12) ‘Eodem allusisse videtur [Plato], licet tectius, libro tertio [Legum]’.Less
‘Aristoteles philosophorum, ne Platone quidem iuxta M. Tullium excepto, citra controversiam omnium doctissimus’ — so Erasmus, in the preface to the 1531 Basle edition of Aristotle, informs his dedicatee John More — ‘dicere solet, liberalium disciplinarum radices quidem subamaras esse, fructus vero dulcissimos. Quod idem rectius, utpote poeta, significare videtur Homerus quum, depingens Moly, herbarum praestantissimam et adversus omne maleficiorum genus efficacissimam, ait eam radice nigra esse, sed flore lacteo candidoque’. The assertion that Homer said the same thing as the Philosopher rectius, utpote poeta, must have caused many a reader to cudgel his brains in vain since the first edition. This chapter argues that what Erasmus meant has been rendered unrecognizable by a misprinted letter: tectius, utpote poeta. Cf. Ratio verae theolog. LB v p. 85 F ‘quod alibi dictum est tectius, alibi dilucidius refertur' and Adag. 1701 (ASD II 4 p. 151. 12) ‘Eodem allusisse videtur [Plato], licet tectius, libro tertio [Legum]’.
Paul Borgman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195331608
- eISBN:
- 9780199868001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331608.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
For Homer's audience, the resourceful Odysseus—“known before all men for the study of crafty designs”—is predictable, always the same, always on brilliant display. David, on the other hand, remains ...
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For Homer's audience, the resourceful Odysseus—“known before all men for the study of crafty designs”—is predictable, always the same, always on brilliant display. David, on the other hand, remains mysterious to the story's audience for great portions of the narrative, acting often in a surprising manner. The biblical writer develops character; the Homeric writer demonstrates character. The divine in each story play roles appropriate to each hero, while reflecting their authors' respective sense of character and moral universe. In fact, the relationship of hero to the divine has much to do with the diametrically opposed characterizations of David and Odysseus within their respective stories, and the gulf between implied moral universes. Because of the goddess Athene, Odysseus becomes more of what he has always been. Because of the biblical God, on the other hand, David changes, becoming known to others—and to himself—only as the story unfolds. David and Odysseus inhabit worlds that could not be more different. A brief exploration of notable cave scenes from their respective stories helps to shine a spotlight on the complexity of David, of his God, and of the relationship between the two.Less
For Homer's audience, the resourceful Odysseus—“known before all men for the study of crafty designs”—is predictable, always the same, always on brilliant display. David, on the other hand, remains mysterious to the story's audience for great portions of the narrative, acting often in a surprising manner. The biblical writer develops character; the Homeric writer demonstrates character. The divine in each story play roles appropriate to each hero, while reflecting their authors' respective sense of character and moral universe. In fact, the relationship of hero to the divine has much to do with the diametrically opposed characterizations of David and Odysseus within their respective stories, and the gulf between implied moral universes. Because of the goddess Athene, Odysseus becomes more of what he has always been. Because of the biblical God, on the other hand, David changes, becoming known to others—and to himself—only as the story unfolds. David and Odysseus inhabit worlds that could not be more different. A brief exploration of notable cave scenes from their respective stories helps to shine a spotlight on the complexity of David, of his God, and of the relationship between the two.
Bruce Heiden
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195341072
- eISBN:
- 9780199867066
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341072.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Although scholars routinely state that the Iliad is an “oral poem,” it has circulated as a text stabilized in writing since near the time of its composition. Thus, the Iliad undoubtedly has features ...
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Although scholars routinely state that the Iliad is an “oral poem,” it has circulated as a text stabilized in writing since near the time of its composition. Thus, the Iliad undoubtedly has features that render it satisfactory to readers and reading. But the question of what these features might be has been difficult for Homeric scholarship to address within the research paradigm of “oral poetics.” This book delineates a new approach aimed at evaluating what the Iliad furnishes to readers. Its program conceptualizes the act of reading as a repertoire of cognitive functions a reader might deploy in collaboration with the poem's signs. By positing certain functions hypothetically and applying them to the poem, its experiments uncover the kind and degree of suitable “reading material” the poem provides. These analyses reveal that the trajectory of events in the Iliad manifests the central agency of one character, Zeus, and that the transmitted articulation of the epic into “books” conforms to distinct narrative subtrajectories. The analyses also show that the sequence of “books” functions as a design that cues attention to the major crises in the story, as well as to themes that develop its significance. The transmitted arrangement therefore furnishes an implicit cognitive map that both eases comprehension of the storyline and indicates pathways of interpretation.Less
Although scholars routinely state that the Iliad is an “oral poem,” it has circulated as a text stabilized in writing since near the time of its composition. Thus, the Iliad undoubtedly has features that render it satisfactory to readers and reading. But the question of what these features might be has been difficult for Homeric scholarship to address within the research paradigm of “oral poetics.” This book delineates a new approach aimed at evaluating what the Iliad furnishes to readers. Its program conceptualizes the act of reading as a repertoire of cognitive functions a reader might deploy in collaboration with the poem's signs. By positing certain functions hypothetically and applying them to the poem, its experiments uncover the kind and degree of suitable “reading material” the poem provides. These analyses reveal that the trajectory of events in the Iliad manifests the central agency of one character, Zeus, and that the transmitted articulation of the epic into “books” conforms to distinct narrative subtrajectories. The analyses also show that the sequence of “books” functions as a design that cues attention to the major crises in the story, as well as to themes that develop its significance. The transmitted arrangement therefore furnishes an implicit cognitive map that both eases comprehension of the storyline and indicates pathways of interpretation.
Emily Baragwanath
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231294
- eISBN:
- 9780191710797
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231294.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This ...
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Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This book examines the representation of human motivation in Herodotus' Histories, building on recent work that views the historian against the background of the sophists and exploring the implications of this for the Histories' narrative books. Working from the theoretical basis of reader response criticism, it uses Plutarch's insights to plot Herodotus' narrative strategies for guiding his readers' response to questions of motives. Its focus is the sophisticated narrative techniques with which Herodotus represents this elusive variety of historical knowledge; but through illustrating and analyzing a range of such techniques across a wide selection of narratives, it supplies a method for reading the Histories more generally. Herodotus is revealed as a master of both narrative and historiography, able tell a lucid story of the past while nonetheless exposing the methodological and epistemological challenges it presented. Subjects discussed include the influence of Homer as a narrative model; the account of Leonidas and Thermopylae—where the subtle interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations contribute to the historian's self-characterization; the Samian and Persian stories, with their depiction of irrational motivation; the Athenian stories, which reveal Herodotus' polarizing technique of presentation; the complications of rhetoric, with its slogans of ‘freedom’ and ‘Greek unity’, in the Ionian Revolt narrative—which proves a touchstone for assessing the later campaign; motives and necessity in the Greek states' response to the Persian threat; and the characterization of the Histories' most prominent individuals, Xerxes and Themistocles.Less
Herodotus sought to communicate not only what happened, but also the background of thoughts and perceptions that shaped those events and was also critical to their interpretation in retrospect. This book examines the representation of human motivation in Herodotus' Histories, building on recent work that views the historian against the background of the sophists and exploring the implications of this for the Histories' narrative books. Working from the theoretical basis of reader response criticism, it uses Plutarch's insights to plot Herodotus' narrative strategies for guiding his readers' response to questions of motives. Its focus is the sophisticated narrative techniques with which Herodotus represents this elusive variety of historical knowledge; but through illustrating and analyzing a range of such techniques across a wide selection of narratives, it supplies a method for reading the Histories more generally. Herodotus is revealed as a master of both narrative and historiography, able tell a lucid story of the past while nonetheless exposing the methodological and epistemological challenges it presented. Subjects discussed include the influence of Homer as a narrative model; the account of Leonidas and Thermopylae—where the subtle interweaving of heroic and more pragmatic motivations contribute to the historian's self-characterization; the Samian and Persian stories, with their depiction of irrational motivation; the Athenian stories, which reveal Herodotus' polarizing technique of presentation; the complications of rhetoric, with its slogans of ‘freedom’ and ‘Greek unity’, in the Ionian Revolt narrative—which proves a touchstone for assessing the later campaign; motives and necessity in the Greek states' response to the Persian threat; and the characterization of the Histories' most prominent individuals, Xerxes and Themistocles.
Andrew Faulkner (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199589036
- eISBN:
- 9780191728983
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589036.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book is the first collection on the Homeric Hymns, a corpus of 33 hexameter poems celebrating gods that were probably recited at religious festivals, among other possible performance venues, and ...
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This book is the first collection on the Homeric Hymns, a corpus of 33 hexameter poems celebrating gods that were probably recited at religious festivals, among other possible performance venues, and were frequently attributed in antiquity to Homer. After a general introduction to modern scholarship on the Homeric Hymns, the chapters of the first part of the book examine in detail aspects of the longer narrative poems in the collection, while those of the second part give critical attention to the shorter poems and to the collection as a whole. The contributors to the volume offer a wide range of views on questions central to our understanding of the Homeric Hymns, which have attracted much interest in recent years.Less
This book is the first collection on the Homeric Hymns, a corpus of 33 hexameter poems celebrating gods that were probably recited at religious festivals, among other possible performance venues, and were frequently attributed in antiquity to Homer. After a general introduction to modern scholarship on the Homeric Hymns, the chapters of the first part of the book examine in detail aspects of the longer narrative poems in the collection, while those of the second part give critical attention to the shorter poems and to the collection as a whole. The contributors to the volume offer a wide range of views on questions central to our understanding of the Homeric Hymns, which have attracted much interest in recent years.
Francesca Galligan
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264133
- eISBN:
- 9780191734649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264133.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter examines the classical and medieval sources of Petrarch in writing his epic poem Africa. It brings to the fore the role of Dante's epic in Petrarch's poem and suggests that the ...
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This chapter examines the classical and medieval sources of Petrarch in writing his epic poem Africa. It brings to the fore the role of Dante's epic in Petrarch's poem and suggests that the prominence of poet characters such as Ennius and Homer, and the link between poet and hero parallel the role of poet characters such as Virgil and Statius in the Divina Commedia. It also provides evidence that Africa was influenced by Virgil's work.Less
This chapter examines the classical and medieval sources of Petrarch in writing his epic poem Africa. It brings to the fore the role of Dante's epic in Petrarch's poem and suggests that the prominence of poet characters such as Ennius and Homer, and the link between poet and hero parallel the role of poet characters such as Virgil and Statius in the Divina Commedia. It also provides evidence that Africa was influenced by Virgil's work.
Edmund Richardson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265413
- eISBN:
- 9780191760464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265413.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines the ways in which Britain's campaigns in the Crimean War (1854–56) became entangled in the ancient world. During the conflict, British officers in the Crimea went in search of ...
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This chapter examines the ways in which Britain's campaigns in the Crimean War (1854–56) became entangled in the ancient world. During the conflict, British officers in the Crimea went in search of ancient sites to excavate — while newspapers in London reported avidly on their finds. The chapter centres around Duncan McPherson, a military doctor who carried out several strikingly ambitious Crimean excavations in collaboration with Robert Westmacott, son of the neoclassical sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott. It explores how difficult and frustrating the search for the ancient world became, for Britain's soldier-archaeologists — and how frequently their pursuit of the past was thwarted.Less
This chapter examines the ways in which Britain's campaigns in the Crimean War (1854–56) became entangled in the ancient world. During the conflict, British officers in the Crimea went in search of ancient sites to excavate — while newspapers in London reported avidly on their finds. The chapter centres around Duncan McPherson, a military doctor who carried out several strikingly ambitious Crimean excavations in collaboration with Robert Westmacott, son of the neoclassical sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott. It explores how difficult and frustrating the search for the ancient world became, for Britain's soldier-archaeologists — and how frequently their pursuit of the past was thwarted.
Emily Greenwood
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199575244
- eISBN:
- 9780191722189
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575244.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The starting point for this chapter is Antonio Benítez‐Rojo's concept of the ‘path of words’ to explain the repetition of motifs in travel writers who undertake the same journeys. This repetitive ...
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The starting point for this chapter is Antonio Benítez‐Rojo's concept of the ‘path of words’ to explain the repetition of motifs in travel writers who undertake the same journeys. This repetitive path of words is an important route for the introduction of classical motifs into modern Caribbean literature. The chapter studies the constant return to Greece in Patrick Leigh Fermor's The Traveller's Tree: A Journey through the Caribbean Islands (1950), and contrasts Fermor's neo‐Hellenic analogies with J. A. Froude's notorious Homeric analogy in The English in the West Indies, or The Bow of Ulysses (1887). One of the legacies of these travel accounts is that the Caribbean is represented as an accident of Greece, a curious ‘other’ Mediterranean. Since both Froude and Fermor's accounts appeal to Homer's Odyssey as a legitimizing text for their travel accounts, the second section explores Derek Walcott's fashioning of a New World Odyssey that writes back to Froude and Fermor, and shares tropes with other responses to The Odyssey in the Caribbean.Less
The starting point for this chapter is Antonio Benítez‐Rojo's concept of the ‘path of words’ to explain the repetition of motifs in travel writers who undertake the same journeys. This repetitive path of words is an important route for the introduction of classical motifs into modern Caribbean literature. The chapter studies the constant return to Greece in Patrick Leigh Fermor's The Traveller's Tree: A Journey through the Caribbean Islands (1950), and contrasts Fermor's neo‐Hellenic analogies with J. A. Froude's notorious Homeric analogy in The English in the West Indies, or The Bow of Ulysses (1887). One of the legacies of these travel accounts is that the Caribbean is represented as an accident of Greece, a curious ‘other’ Mediterranean. Since both Froude and Fermor's accounts appeal to Homer's Odyssey as a legitimizing text for their travel accounts, the second section explores Derek Walcott's fashioning of a New World Odyssey that writes back to Froude and Fermor, and shares tropes with other responses to The Odyssey in the Caribbean.
Ann Jefferson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691160658
- eISBN:
- 9781400852598
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691160658.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter turns to Victor Hugo's discussions of genius. In taking Shakespeare as his pretext for discussing genius, and setting him alongside the likes of Homer, Aeschylus, Job, Juvenal, Dante, ...
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This chapter turns to Victor Hugo's discussions of genius. In taking Shakespeare as his pretext for discussing genius, and setting him alongside the likes of Homer, Aeschylus, Job, Juvenal, Dante, Michelangelo, Jefferson, Rabelais, and Cervantes, Hugo can hardly be said to be pleading the cause of unrecognized genius. But the oppression of genius is presented as an established fact. Moreover, to speak of genius is no longer simply a means of entry into literature for the novice poet, but a justification for his acceptance as the leader of his people: “poets are the first educators of the people.” This mission has yet to be realized, but Hugo's claims about genius once again become the means of making a claim to genius.Less
This chapter turns to Victor Hugo's discussions of genius. In taking Shakespeare as his pretext for discussing genius, and setting him alongside the likes of Homer, Aeschylus, Job, Juvenal, Dante, Michelangelo, Jefferson, Rabelais, and Cervantes, Hugo can hardly be said to be pleading the cause of unrecognized genius. But the oppression of genius is presented as an established fact. Moreover, to speak of genius is no longer simply a means of entry into literature for the novice poet, but a justification for his acceptance as the leader of his people: “poets are the first educators of the people.” This mission has yet to be realized, but Hugo's claims about genius once again become the means of making a claim to genius.
Stefan Tilg
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576944
- eISBN:
- 9780191722486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576944.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter four introduces the analysis of Chariton's poetics with an reconsideration of some remarkable characteristics singled out for one reason or another before: Chariton's general penchant for ...
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Chapter four introduces the analysis of Chariton's poetics with an reconsideration of some remarkable characteristics singled out for one reason or another before: Chariton's general penchant for authorial intrusions – indicating a concern with self‐definition; his allusion to Aristotle's Poetics at the beginning of the last book (8. 1. 4) – inaugurating the invention of the happy ending and a new poetics of tragicomedy; the guidance of his readers through theatrical devices – most useful in a new form of literature; a large number of quotations from Homer – implying an intention to become a new Homer in prose; the setting of the story in Miletus and the alleged origin of Callirhoe from Sybaris (e. g. 1. 12. 8) – potential allusions to preceding low‐life strains of prose fiction, the Milesiaca and the Sybaritica; finally, the negative image of Athens – which sets the new literary form apart from the old classical models, especially Thucydides who provided the historical frame in which the story is set.Less
Chapter four introduces the analysis of Chariton's poetics with an reconsideration of some remarkable characteristics singled out for one reason or another before: Chariton's general penchant for authorial intrusions – indicating a concern with self‐definition; his allusion to Aristotle's Poetics at the beginning of the last book (8. 1. 4) – inaugurating the invention of the happy ending and a new poetics of tragicomedy; the guidance of his readers through theatrical devices – most useful in a new form of literature; a large number of quotations from Homer – implying an intention to become a new Homer in prose; the setting of the story in Miletus and the alleged origin of Callirhoe from Sybaris (e. g. 1. 12. 8) – potential allusions to preceding low‐life strains of prose fiction, the Milesiaca and the Sybaritica; finally, the negative image of Athens – which sets the new literary form apart from the old classical models, especially Thucydides who provided the historical frame in which the story is set.
Stefan Tilg
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576944
- eISBN:
- 9780191722486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576944.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
In Chariton's poetics the motif of Rumour is closely linked with the categories of novelty and narrative. This exploration of Rumour (Φήμη) in her own right completes the investigation of Chariton's ...
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In Chariton's poetics the motif of Rumour is closely linked with the categories of novelty and narrative. This exploration of Rumour (Φήμη) in her own right completes the investigation of Chariton's poetics and leads on to a recent and unexpected model author: although there are some Homeric reminiscences in Chariton's Rumour, fuller functional and textual parallels in Virgil's Aeneid lead to believe that Chariton derived his motif from the Roman epic poet.Less
In Chariton's poetics the motif of Rumour is closely linked with the categories of novelty and narrative. This exploration of Rumour (Φήμη) in her own right completes the investigation of Chariton's poetics and leads on to a recent and unexpected model author: although there are some Homeric reminiscences in Chariton's Rumour, fuller functional and textual parallels in Virgil's Aeneid lead to believe that Chariton derived his motif from the Roman epic poet.
Joanna Paul
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199288076
- eISBN:
- 9780191713439
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288076.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter, focusing on Godard's Le Mepris, explores how the processes of adapting Homer for the cinema and interlinguistic translations of the epics share many concerns, and may even be understood ...
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This chapter, focusing on Godard's Le Mepris, explores how the processes of adapting Homer for the cinema and interlinguistic translations of the epics share many concerns, and may even be understood as analogous. The act of translation is a central theme in Godard's polyglot film, in which a cinematic adaptation of the Odyssey is also dramatised, and a close examination of the conflicting desires which govern both reveals how unsatisfactory, and yet productive, the transfer of meaning between languages and between media can be. In particular, both translation and adaptation in the film are fixated on the seductive yet unattainable goal of ‘fidelity’ and, in striving for this, reveal ways in which both are interpretive acts. The ‘classic’ status of Homer is also shown to have a profound influence on (and indeed to be influenced by) our attempts to receive and recast it in new languages, and/or new media.Less
This chapter, focusing on Godard's Le Mepris, explores how the processes of adapting Homer for the cinema and interlinguistic translations of the epics share many concerns, and may even be understood as analogous. The act of translation is a central theme in Godard's polyglot film, in which a cinematic adaptation of the Odyssey is also dramatised, and a close examination of the conflicting desires which govern both reveals how unsatisfactory, and yet productive, the transfer of meaning between languages and between media can be. In particular, both translation and adaptation in the film are fixated on the seductive yet unattainable goal of ‘fidelity’ and, in striving for this, reveal ways in which both are interpretive acts. The ‘classic’ status of Homer is also shown to have a profound influence on (and indeed to be influenced by) our attempts to receive and recast it in new languages, and/or new media.
