Angela Leighton
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263037
- eISBN:
- 9780191734007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263037.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses form, which is a term that has multiform meanings and is contradictory. It looks at the sense of form found in the works of Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, and Anne Stevenson. ...
More
This lecture discusses form, which is a term that has multiform meanings and is contradictory. It looks at the sense of form found in the works of Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, and Anne Stevenson. Form is not simply as a matter of formal technique, but as an object in a tradition that goes back to Victorian aestheticism's playful commodifications of its own formal pleasures. It states that the sense of elegy may be greater or lesser, depending on the poem.Less
This lecture discusses form, which is a term that has multiform meanings and is contradictory. It looks at the sense of form found in the works of Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop, and Anne Stevenson. Form is not simply as a matter of formal technique, but as an object in a tradition that goes back to Victorian aestheticism's playful commodifications of its own formal pleasures. It states that the sense of elegy may be greater or lesser, depending on the poem.
R. Scott Garner
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199757923
- eISBN:
- 9780199895281
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199757923.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Though often assumed to be a product of traditional compositional practices comparable to those found in early Greek epic, archaic elegy has not previously been analyzed in similar detail with ...
More
Though often assumed to be a product of traditional compositional practices comparable to those found in early Greek epic, archaic elegy has not previously been analyzed in similar detail with respect to such verse‐making techniques. This volume redresses some of this imbalance by exploring several issues related to the production of Greek elegiac poetry. By investigating elegy's metrical partitioning and its localizing patterns of repeated phraseology, This book makes clear that the oral‐formulaic processes lying at the heart of Homeric epic bear close resemblance to those that also originally made archaic elegy possible. Additionally, a close look at the most common metrical ‘anomaly’ in early elegy — epic correption — demonstrates that elegiac poets of the archaic period were not simply mimicking an earlier productive style but were actively engaging with such traditional techniques in order to produce and reproduce their own poems. Because correption exhibits several patterns of employment that depend upon the meshing and adapting of traditional phraseological units, it becomes clear that in elegy — just as in epic — this metrical phenomenon is inextricably entwined with traditional techniques of verse composition, and we therefore have strong evidence that elegiac poets of the archaic period were still making active use of these oral‐formulaic techniques. The implications of such findings are quite large, as they require a wholesale shift in our modern methods of inquiry into elegy for a wide range of concerns of meter, phraseology, and even intended meaning and overall aesthetics.Less
Though often assumed to be a product of traditional compositional practices comparable to those found in early Greek epic, archaic elegy has not previously been analyzed in similar detail with respect to such verse‐making techniques. This volume redresses some of this imbalance by exploring several issues related to the production of Greek elegiac poetry. By investigating elegy's metrical partitioning and its localizing patterns of repeated phraseology, This book makes clear that the oral‐formulaic processes lying at the heart of Homeric epic bear close resemblance to those that also originally made archaic elegy possible. Additionally, a close look at the most common metrical ‘anomaly’ in early elegy — epic correption — demonstrates that elegiac poets of the archaic period were not simply mimicking an earlier productive style but were actively engaging with such traditional techniques in order to produce and reproduce their own poems. Because correption exhibits several patterns of employment that depend upon the meshing and adapting of traditional phraseological units, it becomes clear that in elegy — just as in epic — this metrical phenomenon is inextricably entwined with traditional techniques of verse composition, and we therefore have strong evidence that elegiac poets of the archaic period were still making active use of these oral‐formulaic techniques. The implications of such findings are quite large, as they require a wholesale shift in our modern methods of inquiry into elegy for a wide range of concerns of meter, phraseology, and even intended meaning and overall aesthetics.
Ruth Rothaus Caston
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199925902
- eISBN:
- 9780199980475
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199925902.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
The passions were a topic of widespread interest in antiquity. This is a study on their role in Roman love elegy (1st c. BCE), a genre rife with passions and jealousy in particular. Jealousy does ...
More
The passions were a topic of widespread interest in antiquity. This is a study on their role in Roman love elegy (1st c. BCE), a genre rife with passions and jealousy in particular. Jealousy does appear in a number of earlier genres, but never with the centrality and importance it has in elegy. This book offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate the ancient representation of jealousy in its Roman context, as well as its significance for Roman love elegy itself. The narrators portray themselves as poets and as experts of love, championing a view of love that stands in marked contrast to the criticisms that Stoic and Epicurean philosophers had raised. Elegy provides rich evidence of the genesis and development of erotic jealousy: we find suspicions and rumors of infidelity, obsessive attention to visual clues, and accusations and confrontations with the beloved. The Roman elegists depict the susceptibility and reactions to jealousy along gendered lines, with an asymmetric representation of skepticism and belief, violence and restraint. But jealousy has ramifications well beyond the erotic affair. Underlying jealousy are fears about fides or trust and the vulnerability of human relations. These are prominent in love relationships, of course, but the term has broader application in the Roman world, and the poetic narrator often extends his fears about trust into many other dimensions of life, including friendship, religion, and politics. The infidelity rampant in the love affair indicates a more general breakdown of trust in other human relations. All of these features have implications for the genre itself. Many of the distinctive elements of Roman elegy—its first-person narration, obsessive recordkeeping, and role-playing—can be seen to derive from the thematic concern with jealousy. As such, jealousy provides a new way of understanding the distinctive features of Roman love elegy.Less
The passions were a topic of widespread interest in antiquity. This is a study on their role in Roman love elegy (1st c. BCE), a genre rife with passions and jealousy in particular. Jealousy does appear in a number of earlier genres, but never with the centrality and importance it has in elegy. This book offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate the ancient representation of jealousy in its Roman context, as well as its significance for Roman love elegy itself. The narrators portray themselves as poets and as experts of love, championing a view of love that stands in marked contrast to the criticisms that Stoic and Epicurean philosophers had raised. Elegy provides rich evidence of the genesis and development of erotic jealousy: we find suspicions and rumors of infidelity, obsessive attention to visual clues, and accusations and confrontations with the beloved. The Roman elegists depict the susceptibility and reactions to jealousy along gendered lines, with an asymmetric representation of skepticism and belief, violence and restraint. But jealousy has ramifications well beyond the erotic affair. Underlying jealousy are fears about fides or trust and the vulnerability of human relations. These are prominent in love relationships, of course, but the term has broader application in the Roman world, and the poetic narrator often extends his fears about trust into many other dimensions of life, including friendship, religion, and politics. The infidelity rampant in the love affair indicates a more general breakdown of trust in other human relations. All of these features have implications for the genre itself. Many of the distinctive elements of Roman elegy—its first-person narration, obsessive recordkeeping, and role-playing—can be seen to derive from the thematic concern with jealousy. As such, jealousy provides a new way of understanding the distinctive features of Roman love elegy.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199279418
- eISBN:
- 9780191707322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279418.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This piece was the first to relate the new book of Posidippus' epigrams to Latin poetry. It discusses the nature of the collection, which arranges epigrams in groups with titles. Connections with ...
More
This piece was the first to relate the new book of Posidippus' epigrams to Latin poetry. It discusses the nature of the collection, which arranges epigrams in groups with titles. Connections with Latin poetry are investigated: specific allusions, thematic networks, problems of intertextuality with Hellenistic poetry. The relation of elegy to epigram is then discussed; Latin elegy uses its small relative both to separate itself from epic and to mark its own ambitions. Latin poets turn elegy into love-elegy, and then aspire to go further. The structure of Posidippus and the Fasti can be compared and contrasted.Less
This piece was the first to relate the new book of Posidippus' epigrams to Latin poetry. It discusses the nature of the collection, which arranges epigrams in groups with titles. Connections with Latin poetry are investigated: specific allusions, thematic networks, problems of intertextuality with Hellenistic poetry. The relation of elegy to epigram is then discussed; Latin elegy uses its small relative both to separate itself from epic and to mark its own ambitions. Latin poets turn elegy into love-elegy, and then aspire to go further. The structure of Posidippus and the Fasti can be compared and contrasted.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199279418
- eISBN:
- 9780191707322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279418.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The structure of Amores 3 has been obscured by the whole series Amores 1-3, and the relation to Ovid's coming works. The structure rests on genre. The frame (poems 1 and 15) shows the poet-narrator ...
More
The structure of Amores 3 has been obscured by the whole series Amores 1-3, and the relation to Ovid's coming works. The structure rests on genre. The frame (poems 1 and 15) shows the poet-narrator making and keeping a decisive resolution, to leave love-elegy for tragedy; the frame has connotations of tragedy, especially of Medea. The inset (poems 2-14) presents the indecisive and imperfective world of love-elegy, from which the narrator will escape. The inset teases the reader, however, on ending and on love. It makes excursions into other genres, but subverts more than it reinforces generic hierarchy. The book is politically subversive on adultery, and pointedly avoids Roman patriotism. Intertextuality with other ‘last’ books highlights the force of its structure.Less
The structure of Amores 3 has been obscured by the whole series Amores 1-3, and the relation to Ovid's coming works. The structure rests on genre. The frame (poems 1 and 15) shows the poet-narrator making and keeping a decisive resolution, to leave love-elegy for tragedy; the frame has connotations of tragedy, especially of Medea. The inset (poems 2-14) presents the indecisive and imperfective world of love-elegy, from which the narrator will escape. The inset teases the reader, however, on ending and on love. It makes excursions into other genres, but subverts more than it reinforces generic hierarchy. The book is politically subversive on adultery, and pointedly avoids Roman patriotism. Intertextuality with other ‘last’ books highlights the force of its structure.
Ruth Rothaus Caston
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199925902
- eISBN:
- 9780199980475
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199925902.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
The conclusion suggests that many of the features characteristic of jealousy are actually responsible for some of the more distinctive elements of Roman elegy itself. Jealousy is not merely the ...
More
The conclusion suggests that many of the features characteristic of jealousy are actually responsible for some of the more distinctive elements of Roman elegy itself. Jealousy is not merely the subject matter of elegy: it creates and structures elegy’s various generic features. Jealousy thus provides a much more satisfying explanation for the specific character of Roman elegy than the various theories about its origins that have typically been put forward.Less
The conclusion suggests that many of the features characteristic of jealousy are actually responsible for some of the more distinctive elements of Roman elegy itself. Jealousy is not merely the subject matter of elegy: it creates and structures elegy’s various generic features. Jealousy thus provides a much more satisfying explanation for the specific character of Roman elegy than the various theories about its origins that have typically been put forward.
Marco Fantuzzi
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199603626
- eISBN:
- 9780191746321
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199603626.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The Iliad is a poem whose events revolve around the “anger” of Achilles, and his personal fierceness and pursuit of glory remain, despite different and more complex nuances, the prevailing features ...
More
The Iliad is a poem whose events revolve around the “anger” of Achilles, and his personal fierceness and pursuit of glory remain, despite different and more complex nuances, the prevailing features of his characterization. This book proposes to investigate how different literary authors and visual artists at different periods responded to Achilles' “erotic life”, an aspect about which the Iliadwas almost completely silent. Achilles' loves expose a crack in the usually self-assured attitude of the hero, demonstrating the limits of epic heroism and the epic vision of the world. As such, these moments of erotic “weakness” became perfect manifestos for reuse in other genres, such as tragedy and the various forms of love poetry, in which themes of love and passion were more customary than in heroic epic.Less
The Iliad is a poem whose events revolve around the “anger” of Achilles, and his personal fierceness and pursuit of glory remain, despite different and more complex nuances, the prevailing features of his characterization. This book proposes to investigate how different literary authors and visual artists at different periods responded to Achilles' “erotic life”, an aspect about which the Iliadwas almost completely silent. Achilles' loves expose a crack in the usually self-assured attitude of the hero, demonstrating the limits of epic heroism and the epic vision of the world. As such, these moments of erotic “weakness” became perfect manifestos for reuse in other genres, such as tragedy and the various forms of love poetry, in which themes of love and passion were more customary than in heroic epic.
R. O. A. M. Lyne
S. J. Harrison (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203963
- eISBN:
- 9780191708237
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203963.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book collects the papers of Oliver Lyne, and was conceived by a group of his former pupils and colleagues as a memorial to Oliver. To make it the more accessible, effective, and compact, it was ...
More
This book collects the papers of Oliver Lyne, and was conceived by a group of his former pupils and colleagues as a memorial to Oliver. To make it the more accessible, effective, and compact, it was eventually decided to omit papers which were particularly short or technical, or which had been superseded through Oliver's later work or changes of view. Oliver's output may be grouped into three periods: the first (A) from the beginning to the publication of The Latin Love Poets (1980); the second (B) from 1983 to the publication of Horace: Behind the Public Poetry (1995); the third (C) the papers that followed. The papers (like the books) present a striking concentration on the most well-known period of Latin poetry, from c.60 BC to c.20 AD, and show particular concern with the relation of personal and public poetry. Period A is chiefly preoccupied with personal poetry, which is conceived as reflecting actual personality and opinions. Period B deals with poetry which seems to present a public and Augustan stance. This stance, however, is undermined; undermining indeed (with its more devious congeners) forms perhaps the central concern in Lyne's analysis of poetry. The return to avowedly or professedly personal poetry in period C now gives more emphasis to its literary forms and structures, and to intertextuality.Less
This book collects the papers of Oliver Lyne, and was conceived by a group of his former pupils and colleagues as a memorial to Oliver. To make it the more accessible, effective, and compact, it was eventually decided to omit papers which were particularly short or technical, or which had been superseded through Oliver's later work or changes of view. Oliver's output may be grouped into three periods: the first (A) from the beginning to the publication of The Latin Love Poets (1980); the second (B) from 1983 to the publication of Horace: Behind the Public Poetry (1995); the third (C) the papers that followed. The papers (like the books) present a striking concentration on the most well-known period of Latin poetry, from c.60 BC to c.20 AD, and show particular concern with the relation of personal and public poetry. Period A is chiefly preoccupied with personal poetry, which is conceived as reflecting actual personality and opinions. Period B deals with poetry which seems to present a public and Augustan stance. This stance, however, is undermined; undermining indeed (with its more devious congeners) forms perhaps the central concern in Lyne's analysis of poetry. The return to avowedly or professedly personal poetry in period C now gives more emphasis to its literary forms and structures, and to intertextuality.
Douglas Kerr
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198123705
- eISBN:
- 9780191671609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198123705.003.0016
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
The possibility for a book of Owen's poetry to be published during the last winter and spring of his life caused Owen to achieve a different perspective regarding his work. Owen, with the help of ...
More
The possibility for a book of Owen's poetry to be published during the last winter and spring of his life caused Owen to achieve a different perspective regarding his work. Owen, with the help of Siegfried Sassoon, during this time was developing his own new poetic personality and was increasingly becoming dissatisfied with the old one. As such, he established his own voice as a way of organizing the various discourses involved in his experience that resulted in an urgent and expressive melange. As he was contemplating some of the editorial decisions for his upcoming book, he had to think much about the general shape of his work and how his poems were connected with one another. The titles that Owen came up with reflected his place in the community of poetry. He initially chose a title that hinted elegy through English Elegies which did not suit some of his works, and so he chose other more appropriate titles.Less
The possibility for a book of Owen's poetry to be published during the last winter and spring of his life caused Owen to achieve a different perspective regarding his work. Owen, with the help of Siegfried Sassoon, during this time was developing his own new poetic personality and was increasingly becoming dissatisfied with the old one. As such, he established his own voice as a way of organizing the various discourses involved in his experience that resulted in an urgent and expressive melange. As he was contemplating some of the editorial decisions for his upcoming book, he had to think much about the general shape of his work and how his poems were connected with one another. The titles that Owen came up with reflected his place in the community of poetry. He initially chose a title that hinted elegy through English Elegies which did not suit some of his works, and so he chose other more appropriate titles.
Jonathan Usher
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264133
- eISBN:
- 9780191734649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264133.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter examines the concept of the solitary Petrarch and suggests that Petrarch's theory of secular fame and the various stages of death, fame, time, and eternity are already present in nuce in ...
More
This chapter examines the concept of the solitary Petrarch and suggests that Petrarch's theory of secular fame and the various stages of death, fame, time, and eternity are already present in nuce in the early Latin elegy on his mother's death. It highlights the influence of Dante's Inferno in Petrarch's development of an iterative mortality/vitality related to memory early in his career and on his Metrica on the death of his mother.Less
This chapter examines the concept of the solitary Petrarch and suggests that Petrarch's theory of secular fame and the various stages of death, fame, time, and eternity are already present in nuce in the early Latin elegy on his mother's death. It highlights the influence of Dante's Inferno in Petrarch's development of an iterative mortality/vitality related to memory early in his career and on his Metrica on the death of his mother.
Donald Prater
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198158912
- eISBN:
- 9780191673405
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198158912.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, European Literature
Rilke stayed in Munich during the First World War. At one moment he thought of joining Rolland's Red Cross work in Geneva, for the chance of serving the universal rather than the merely patriotic ...
More
Rilke stayed in Munich during the First World War. At one moment he thought of joining Rolland's Red Cross work in Geneva, for the chance of serving the universal rather than the merely patriotic cause. Rilke dutifully contributed, through Marie Taxis, to an anthology published in Vienna for war charities – a poem written years earlier, oddly enough on England's patron saint. Against the background of war, he later wrote the Fourth Elegy in addition to his cycle of Elegies.Less
Rilke stayed in Munich during the First World War. At one moment he thought of joining Rolland's Red Cross work in Geneva, for the chance of serving the universal rather than the merely patriotic cause. Rilke dutifully contributed, through Marie Taxis, to an anthology published in Vienna for war charities – a poem written years earlier, oddly enough on England's patron saint. Against the background of war, he later wrote the Fourth Elegy in addition to his cycle of Elegies.
Donald Prater
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198158912
- eISBN:
- 9780191673405
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198158912.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, European Literature
Rilke took up residence at the Château de Muzot in 1921. He began to write a sequence of poems, which he called ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’. In three days he completed a cycle of 23, in a free handling of ...
More
Rilke took up residence at the Château de Muzot in 1921. He began to write a sequence of poems, which he called ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’. In three days he completed a cycle of 23, in a free handling of the classic sonnet form. Rilke then began working on the Elegies again. In February, he started a continuation of the ‘Antistrophes’ to constitute the Fifth Elegy. After the completion of the Tenth Elegy, the Elegies was later called the Duino Elegies. On 23 February Rilke also completed the manuscript of the second part of his ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’, in its final form of 29 poems. He became gravely ill in 1926 and died on the morning of 29 December in Valmont.Less
Rilke took up residence at the Château de Muzot in 1921. He began to write a sequence of poems, which he called ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’. In three days he completed a cycle of 23, in a free handling of the classic sonnet form. Rilke then began working on the Elegies again. In February, he started a continuation of the ‘Antistrophes’ to constitute the Fifth Elegy. After the completion of the Tenth Elegy, the Elegies was later called the Duino Elegies. On 23 February Rilke also completed the manuscript of the second part of his ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’, in its final form of 29 poems. He became gravely ill in 1926 and died on the morning of 29 December in Valmont.
Fred Parker
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199288076
- eISBN:
- 9780191713439
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288076.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The historical self-consciousness of modernity that emerged in the 18th century gave rise to an association of the classic with a valuable simplicity whose mediation or transmission had become ...
More
The historical self-consciousness of modernity that emerged in the 18th century gave rise to an association of the classic with a valuable simplicity whose mediation or transmission had become specially problematic. ‘Augustan’ stances, accommodating the play of difference (Horace, Pope, Johnson), are contrasted with desires for a more immediate realizations of such simplicity, often via pastoral (Fénelon, Collins, Cowper), and with the sense of radical loss or absence to which those desires could lead (Wordsworth, Gray's Elegy). The comparable response of Eliot to Dante suggests the perennial centrality of this topic to the project of classicism.Less
The historical self-consciousness of modernity that emerged in the 18th century gave rise to an association of the classic with a valuable simplicity whose mediation or transmission had become specially problematic. ‘Augustan’ stances, accommodating the play of difference (Horace, Pope, Johnson), are contrasted with desires for a more immediate realizations of such simplicity, often via pastoral (Fénelon, Collins, Cowper), and with the sense of radical loss or absence to which those desires could lead (Wordsworth, Gray's Elegy). The comparable response of Eliot to Dante suggests the perennial centrality of this topic to the project of classicism.
Catherine Robson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691119366
- eISBN:
- 9781400845156
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691119366.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter addresses some of the later psychological dimensions inherent within adolescents' and adults' internalization of a poem. It sets Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” ...
More
This chapter addresses some of the later psychological dimensions inherent within adolescents' and adults' internalization of a poem. It sets Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” within a very specific institutional and emotional history, directing attention to the mingled pain and pleasure that can exist within the possession of a cultural object. This chapter considers how the highest-achieving elementary-school pupils might have felt when they read and recited a work that dubs the poor both unlettered and mute. Further, it speculates about the ability of the memorized poem to stay within those individuals for the remainder of their days, and to act as a constant reminder of the educational and social processes that moved them out of one class and into another—an elevation the eighteenth-century poem deems impossible.Less
This chapter addresses some of the later psychological dimensions inherent within adolescents' and adults' internalization of a poem. It sets Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” within a very specific institutional and emotional history, directing attention to the mingled pain and pleasure that can exist within the possession of a cultural object. This chapter considers how the highest-achieving elementary-school pupils might have felt when they read and recited a work that dubs the poor both unlettered and mute. Further, it speculates about the ability of the memorized poem to stay within those individuals for the remainder of their days, and to act as a constant reminder of the educational and social processes that moved them out of one class and into another—an elevation the eighteenth-century poem deems impossible.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199279418
- eISBN:
- 9780191707322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279418.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Greek papyri, especially of epigrams, are used to show the connections and problems of the Catullan corpus. It is argued that a three-book collected edition does not fit the ancient material: poems ...
More
Greek papyri, especially of epigrams, are used to show the connections and problems of the Catullan corpus. It is argued that a three-book collected edition does not fit the ancient material: poems 61-4 were issued separately; a (1-60) and c (65-116) are the somewhat distorted remains of two simultaneous books, which are to be read together and compared. c falls into two parts (c1 65-68b, c2 69-116) which are themselves to be contrasted, and which between them display Catullus matching the range of Callimachus' elegy. c2, c1, and a are seen to exploit differently the concern of epigram with physical objects. In c2 the objects are parts of the body; this helps c2 create a distinctive world.Less
Greek papyri, especially of epigrams, are used to show the connections and problems of the Catullan corpus. It is argued that a three-book collected edition does not fit the ancient material: poems 61-4 were issued separately; a (1-60) and c (65-116) are the somewhat distorted remains of two simultaneous books, which are to be read together and compared. c falls into two parts (c1 65-68b, c2 69-116) which are themselves to be contrasted, and which between them display Catullus matching the range of Callimachus' elegy. c2, c1, and a are seen to exploit differently the concern of epigram with physical objects. In c2 the objects are parts of the body; this helps c2 create a distinctive world.
Llewelyn Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199554188
- eISBN:
- 9780191594991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554188.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter focuses on the benchmark metre in ancient poetry, the heroic hexameter. Three poetic forms embodying a contradiction of the epic ethos embodied by the hexameter are considered: ...
More
This chapter focuses on the benchmark metre in ancient poetry, the heroic hexameter. Three poetic forms embodying a contradiction of the epic ethos embodied by the hexameter are considered: saturnians, satirical hexameters, and elegiacs. Saturnians, the celebratory medium displaced by hexameters by Ennius, are probed for their capacity to convey resistance to the hellenization represented by hexameters, and similar implications attach to Lucilius' decision to adopt the hexameter as the default form for satire, but a hexameter which is a travesty of the magnificent vehicle of epic: later satirists offer interesting twists to this combative relationship with their own form. Finally, elegy has an ambivalent relationship with epic hard-wired into it by the uneasy combination of a dactylic hexameter and pentameter in the elegiac couplet, and poetry by a range of elegiac poets is used to show the creative potential of this metrical combination.Less
This chapter focuses on the benchmark metre in ancient poetry, the heroic hexameter. Three poetic forms embodying a contradiction of the epic ethos embodied by the hexameter are considered: saturnians, satirical hexameters, and elegiacs. Saturnians, the celebratory medium displaced by hexameters by Ennius, are probed for their capacity to convey resistance to the hellenization represented by hexameters, and similar implications attach to Lucilius' decision to adopt the hexameter as the default form for satire, but a hexameter which is a travesty of the magnificent vehicle of epic: later satirists offer interesting twists to this combative relationship with their own form. Finally, elegy has an ambivalent relationship with epic hard-wired into it by the uneasy combination of a dactylic hexameter and pentameter in the elegiac couplet, and poetry by a range of elegiac poets is used to show the creative potential of this metrical combination.
R.O.A.M. Lyne
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203963
- eISBN:
- 9780191708237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203963.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This paper gives a close reading of this poem of Propertius, with detailed analysis of the text and its language, concentrating on the psychology of the lover.
This paper gives a close reading of this poem of Propertius, with detailed analysis of the text and its language, concentrating on the psychology of the lover.
S.J. Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203581
- eISBN:
- 9780191708176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203581.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Horace's Epodes both incorporate and react against their archaic model Archilochus, and also interact significantly with other contemporary genres (Vergil's Eclogues and love-elegy). The second half ...
More
Horace's Epodes both incorporate and react against their archaic model Archilochus, and also interact significantly with other contemporary genres (Vergil's Eclogues and love-elegy). The second half of the book shows especially generic uncertainty; an interesting and rich generic mixture results.Less
Horace's Epodes both incorporate and react against their archaic model Archilochus, and also interact significantly with other contemporary genres (Vergil's Eclogues and love-elegy). The second half of the book shows especially generic uncertainty; an interesting and rich generic mixture results.
S.J. Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203581
- eISBN:
- 9780191708176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203581.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The Aeneid is not just the culmination of all ancient epic traditions, but also exploits generic complexity to enrich its texture. Apart from the obvious but still underrated interface with tragedy, ...
More
The Aeneid is not just the culmination of all ancient epic traditions, but also exploits generic complexity to enrich its texture. Apart from the obvious but still underrated interface with tragedy, e.g., in the Dido-episode, there are encounters with many other non-epic styles (e.g., pastoral, didactic, elegy). As in the Odes, a classic and inimitable text is formed by generic enrichment.Less
The Aeneid is not just the culmination of all ancient epic traditions, but also exploits generic complexity to enrich its texture. Apart from the obvious but still underrated interface with tragedy, e.g., in the Dido-episode, there are encounters with many other non-epic styles (e.g., pastoral, didactic, elegy). As in the Odes, a classic and inimitable text is formed by generic enrichment.
Andrew Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199591244
- eISBN:
- 9780191595561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199591244.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter argues that early modern pedagogical authorities and commentators find in Virgil's Eclogues several close engagements with the vocabulary of teaching. These authorities and commentators, ...
More
This chapter argues that early modern pedagogical authorities and commentators find in Virgil's Eclogues several close engagements with the vocabulary of teaching. These authorities and commentators, in turn, wring from Virgil's words a series of complex statements about repetition, dialogue, echo, and instruction. This chapter argues that they locate in pastoral and pedagogical dialogue an erotics of the voice, a responsiveness of one voice to another as of one body to another. In addition to offering an extended treatment of the collection's pedagogical diction and a detailed examination of the Sixth Eclogue, the chapter discusses texts by Erasmus, the Spanish humanist, teacher, and commentator Juan Luis Vives (1493–1540), late antique and early modern grammar books, schoolroom dialogues by the humanist grammar-school teacher Maturin Cordier, and translations of the Eclogues by Abraham Fleming, John Brinsley, and William Lisle (c.1569–1637). The chapter concludes by reading one of the most vexatious aspects of Milton's Lycidas (what Stanley Fish calls its studied hesitation ‘between monologue, dialogue, and something that is not quite either’) as a record of Milton's own conversation with the pedagogical subplot of Virgil's Eclogues.Less
This chapter argues that early modern pedagogical authorities and commentators find in Virgil's Eclogues several close engagements with the vocabulary of teaching. These authorities and commentators, in turn, wring from Virgil's words a series of complex statements about repetition, dialogue, echo, and instruction. This chapter argues that they locate in pastoral and pedagogical dialogue an erotics of the voice, a responsiveness of one voice to another as of one body to another. In addition to offering an extended treatment of the collection's pedagogical diction and a detailed examination of the Sixth Eclogue, the chapter discusses texts by Erasmus, the Spanish humanist, teacher, and commentator Juan Luis Vives (1493–1540), late antique and early modern grammar books, schoolroom dialogues by the humanist grammar-school teacher Maturin Cordier, and translations of the Eclogues by Abraham Fleming, John Brinsley, and William Lisle (c.1569–1637). The chapter concludes by reading one of the most vexatious aspects of Milton's Lycidas (what Stanley Fish calls its studied hesitation ‘between monologue, dialogue, and something that is not quite either’) as a record of Milton's own conversation with the pedagogical subplot of Virgil's Eclogues.
