Derek Attridge
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198833154
- eISBN:
- 9780191873898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198833154.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This chapter focuses on the institution of the recitatio, characteristic of late Augustan and post-Augustan Rome, whereby poets read out their unfinalized poetry for an audience to criticize before ...
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This chapter focuses on the institution of the recitatio, characteristic of late Augustan and post-Augustan Rome, whereby poets read out their unfinalized poetry for an audience to criticize before revising it for publication. The main source of evidence is the Letters of Pliny the Younger, who describes in some detail both the recitationes he organized in his own house and those he attended. Comments by other writers on recitationes are cited, both those in favour and those opposed, and the value of the institution to Roman poetry is considered. The symposium as a site for the reading of verse continues to be attested, and there is evidence for the continued inclusion of poetry contests in celebratory games. Other places where poetry might be found, such as walls and monuments, are reviewed.Less
This chapter focuses on the institution of the recitatio, characteristic of late Augustan and post-Augustan Rome, whereby poets read out their unfinalized poetry for an audience to criticize before revising it for publication. The main source of evidence is the Letters of Pliny the Younger, who describes in some detail both the recitationes he organized in his own house and those he attended. Comments by other writers on recitationes are cited, both those in favour and those opposed, and the value of the institution to Roman poetry is considered. The symposium as a site for the reading of verse continues to be attested, and there is evidence for the continued inclusion of poetry contests in celebratory games. Other places where poetry might be found, such as walls and monuments, are reviewed.
