Anne E. McLaren
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832322
- eISBN:
- 9780824869366
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832322.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This is the first in-depth study of Chinese bridal laments, a ritual and performative art practiced by Chinese women in premodern times that gave them a rare opportunity to voice their grievances ...
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This is the first in-depth study of Chinese bridal laments, a ritual and performative art practiced by Chinese women in premodern times that gave them a rare opportunity to voice their grievances publicly. Drawing on methodologies from numerous disciplines, including performance arts and folk literatures, the book suggests that the ability to move an audience through her lament was one of the most important symbolic and ritual skills a Chinese woman could possess before the modern era. This book provides a detailed case study of the Nanhui region in the lower Yangzi delta. Bridal laments, the book argues, offer insights into how illiterate Chinese women understood the kinship and social hierarchies of their region, the marriage market that determined their destinies, and the value of their labor in the commodified economy of the delta region. The book not only assesses and draws upon a large body of sources, both Chinese and Western, but is grounded in actual field work, offering both historical and ethnographic context in a unique and sophisticated approach. The book covers both Han and non-Han groups and thus contributes to studies of ethnicity and cultural accommodation in China. The book presents an original view about the ritual implications of bridal laments and their role in popular notions of “wedding pollution,” and it includes an annotated translation from a lament cycle.Less
This is the first in-depth study of Chinese bridal laments, a ritual and performative art practiced by Chinese women in premodern times that gave them a rare opportunity to voice their grievances publicly. Drawing on methodologies from numerous disciplines, including performance arts and folk literatures, the book suggests that the ability to move an audience through her lament was one of the most important symbolic and ritual skills a Chinese woman could possess before the modern era. This book provides a detailed case study of the Nanhui region in the lower Yangzi delta. Bridal laments, the book argues, offer insights into how illiterate Chinese women understood the kinship and social hierarchies of their region, the marriage market that determined their destinies, and the value of their labor in the commodified economy of the delta region. The book not only assesses and draws upon a large body of sources, both Chinese and Western, but is grounded in actual field work, offering both historical and ethnographic context in a unique and sophisticated approach. The book covers both Han and non-Han groups and thus contributes to studies of ethnicity and cultural accommodation in China. The book presents an original view about the ritual implications of bridal laments and their role in popular notions of “wedding pollution,” and it includes an annotated translation from a lament cycle.
L. A. Swift
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577842
- eISBN:
- 9780191722622
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577842.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes Thrēnos and other forms of ritual funerary song. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Greek ritual lament, and seeks continuities between the ...
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This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes Thrēnos and other forms of ritual funerary song. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Greek ritual lament, and seeks continuities between the various forms such as women's lament, Thrēnos, funerary epigram. It also discusses the role that funerary legislation played in changing the nature of funeral song, and the effect that this would have had on a fifth‐century audience's understanding of ritual lament. The chapter discusses three plays which place particular emphasis on the conventions of lament: Aeschylus' Persians, Sophocles' Electra, and Euripides' Alcestis. Each of these plays uses lament to represent ethical ideas to do with moderation and social convention, highlighting the politicized role that lamentation had accrued by this period.Less
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes Thrēnos and other forms of ritual funerary song. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Greek ritual lament, and seeks continuities between the various forms such as women's lament, Thrēnos, funerary epigram. It also discusses the role that funerary legislation played in changing the nature of funeral song, and the effect that this would have had on a fifth‐century audience's understanding of ritual lament. The chapter discusses three plays which place particular emphasis on the conventions of lament: Aeschylus' Persians, Sophocles' Electra, and Euripides' Alcestis. Each of these plays uses lament to represent ethical ideas to do with moderation and social convention, highlighting the politicized role that lamentation had accrued by this period.
Benjamin D Koen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367744
- eISBN:
- 9780199867295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367744.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Chapter 4 further expands the ethnography by providing a broader frame of the soundscape in the country and the region of Badakhshan, investigating specifically the chanting of a dervish in the Green ...
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Chapter 4 further expands the ethnography by providing a broader frame of the soundscape in the country and the region of Badakhshan, investigating specifically the chanting of a dervish in the Green Bazaar, a dombra (dotar) street musician, lament, and the music genres of falak, dargilik, dodoik, bulbulik, and lalaik—genres which convey familial love, separation and reunion, and the love of God, separation and reunion with the Beloved. Entrainment is introduced as another culture-transcendent dynamic implicated in music, prayer, poetry, and healing and its local manifestation is explored. Holistic embodiment, coined as embeingment, builds upon local beliefs where a spiritual reality is central to the Badakhshani ‘sacred clinical reality’; and processes of entrainment are explored in the context of maddâh, falak, and the natural environment.Less
Chapter 4 further expands the ethnography by providing a broader frame of the soundscape in the country and the region of Badakhshan, investigating specifically the chanting of a dervish in the Green Bazaar, a dombra (dotar) street musician, lament, and the music genres of falak, dargilik, dodoik, bulbulik, and lalaik—genres which convey familial love, separation and reunion, and the love of God, separation and reunion with the Beloved. Entrainment is introduced as another culture-transcendent dynamic implicated in music, prayer, poetry, and healing and its local manifestation is explored. Holistic embodiment, coined as embeingment, builds upon local beliefs where a spiritual reality is central to the Badakhshani ‘sacred clinical reality’; and processes of entrainment are explored in the context of maddâh, falak, and the natural environment.
Roland Enmarch
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265420
- eISBN:
- 9780191760471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265420.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
‘Laments’ have long been recognised as an important and long-lived part of Egyptian written culture, appearing in widely differing contexts, including as captions to mourning scenes in tombs from the ...
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‘Laments’ have long been recognised as an important and long-lived part of Egyptian written culture, appearing in widely differing contexts, including as captions to mourning scenes in tombs from the Old Kingdom onwards, as liturgical laments uttered by Isis and Nephthys in mortuary texts, and as an important component of the literary style of Middle Egyptian pessimistic literature. The heterogeneous nature of these sources presents problems in arriving at a satisfactory definition for a ‘lament’ genre as a whole, and raises questions as to just how closely related these different written traditions are. While the style of literary laments in particular has often been described as originating from funerary dirges, the evidence for this is chronologically problematic and other generic influences have alternatively been posited. This chapter establishes stylistic and structural criteria to enable a more detailed analysis of the different kinds of lament, and their possible interrelationship.Less
‘Laments’ have long been recognised as an important and long-lived part of Egyptian written culture, appearing in widely differing contexts, including as captions to mourning scenes in tombs from the Old Kingdom onwards, as liturgical laments uttered by Isis and Nephthys in mortuary texts, and as an important component of the literary style of Middle Egyptian pessimistic literature. The heterogeneous nature of these sources presents problems in arriving at a satisfactory definition for a ‘lament’ genre as a whole, and raises questions as to just how closely related these different written traditions are. While the style of literary laments in particular has often been described as originating from funerary dirges, the evidence for this is chronologically problematic and other generic influences have alternatively been posited. This chapter establishes stylistic and structural criteria to enable a more detailed analysis of the different kinds of lament, and their possible interrelationship.
Roland Enmarch
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264331
- eISBN:
- 9780191734106
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264331.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
The use of editorial marks in the transliteration and translation of The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All broadly follows Paul Maas (1958 [1927]), and in part the Leiden papyrological ...
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The use of editorial marks in the transliteration and translation of The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All broadly follows Paul Maas (1958 [1927]), and in part the Leiden papyrological conventions. In the transliteration, words that belong together in a prosodic colon as defined by Gerhard Fecht are connected with hyphens. Specifically, the stative generally does not form a separate colon except when there is a chain of statives, or when the grammatical subject itself consists of several cola, or when the stative forms an adjunct clause. In ambiguous cases, where two prosodic analyses are possible, the alternative is given where it significantly alters the interpretation of the strophe. The transliteration ignores unetymological features of Ramessid orthography. The theme of insubordination and unruliness among subordinate workers recurs in the poem. This chapter also analyses the poem's strophes, audience, structure and laments.Less
The use of editorial marks in the transliteration and translation of The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All broadly follows Paul Maas (1958 [1927]), and in part the Leiden papyrological conventions. In the transliteration, words that belong together in a prosodic colon as defined by Gerhard Fecht are connected with hyphens. Specifically, the stative generally does not form a separate colon except when there is a chain of statives, or when the grammatical subject itself consists of several cola, or when the stative forms an adjunct clause. In ambiguous cases, where two prosodic analyses are possible, the alternative is given where it significantly alters the interpretation of the strophe. The transliteration ignores unetymological features of Ramessid orthography. The theme of insubordination and unruliness among subordinate workers recurs in the poem. This chapter also analyses the poem's strophes, audience, structure and laments.
Floyd Grave and Margaret Grave
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195173574
- eISBN:
- 9780199872152
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173574.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Noted for timbral brilliance and an accent on taxing first-violin delivery, this set, Op. 54/55, is traditionally linked to the violinist Johann Tost, who served as a middleman in its sale. ...
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Noted for timbral brilliance and an accent on taxing first-violin delivery, this set, Op. 54/55, is traditionally linked to the violinist Johann Tost, who served as a middleman in its sale. Extroverted and intensely energetic, especially in the fast outer movements, these works display a wide tonal range, an enriched harmonic syntax, fast tempos, and streamlined surface activity. Whereas slow movements feature expressive soloistic embellishment (notably the ternary variation design of Op. 54/3, the gypsy lament of Op. 54/2, and the concerto-style Op. 55/1), the finales concentrate on compositional intrigue — especially Op. 55/1, with its synthesis of fugue (looking back to Op. 20) and rondo (as in Op. 33), and Op. 54/2, famous for the incomparably witty inspiration of a form that thwarts expectations at virtually every turn. Chromatic harmony figures prominently through inflections within phrases and remote tonal excursions within themes.Less
Noted for timbral brilliance and an accent on taxing first-violin delivery, this set, Op. 54/55, is traditionally linked to the violinist Johann Tost, who served as a middleman in its sale. Extroverted and intensely energetic, especially in the fast outer movements, these works display a wide tonal range, an enriched harmonic syntax, fast tempos, and streamlined surface activity. Whereas slow movements feature expressive soloistic embellishment (notably the ternary variation design of Op. 54/3, the gypsy lament of Op. 54/2, and the concerto-style Op. 55/1), the finales concentrate on compositional intrigue — especially Op. 55/1, with its synthesis of fugue (looking back to Op. 20) and rondo (as in Op. 33), and Op. 54/2, famous for the incomparably witty inspiration of a form that thwarts expectations at virtually every turn. Chromatic harmony figures prominently through inflections within phrases and remote tonal excursions within themes.
Peter J. Schmelz
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195341935
- eISBN:
- 9780199866854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341935.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter investigates Andrey Volkonsky's early controversial career and the compositional background and performance history of his three most influential serial works: Musica Stricta, Suite of ...
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This chapter investigates Andrey Volkonsky's early controversial career and the compositional background and performance history of his three most influential serial works: Musica Stricta, Suite of Mirrors, and Laments of Shchaza, all of which helped set the stage for the “unofficial” musical subculture that would flourish by the mid-1960s. It also traces Volkonsky's development from difficult conservatory student to notorious “young composer” to charismatic performer of early music, charting his fluctuating reception by Soviet officials while also considering the nature of his own opposition to officialdom. Andrey Volkonsky Musica Stricta Suite of Mirrors Laments of Shchaza serialism conservatory receptionLess
This chapter investigates Andrey Volkonsky's early controversial career and the compositional background and performance history of his three most influential serial works: Musica Stricta, Suite of Mirrors, and Laments of Shchaza, all of which helped set the stage for the “unofficial” musical subculture that would flourish by the mid-1960s. It also traces Volkonsky's development from difficult conservatory student to notorious “young composer” to charismatic performer of early music, charting his fluctuating reception by Soviet officials while also considering the nature of his own opposition to officialdom. Andrey Volkonsky Musica Stricta Suite of Mirrors Laments of Shchaza serialism conservatory reception
Peter J. Schmelz
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195341935
- eISBN:
- 9780199866854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341935.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter discusses the musical repercussions of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by focusing on an “unofficial” concert that took place in 1970 featuring two compositions, one of which ...
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This chapter discusses the musical repercussions of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by focusing on an “unofficial” concert that took place in 1970 featuring two compositions, one of which was Edison Denisov's Laments (Plachi, 1966), the other a collectively composed work usually credited to Andrey Volkonsky called Rejoinder (Replika). Rejoinder in particular encapsulates many of the shifts that 1968 signaled even as it illuminates the ambiguous possibilities for resistance at a pivotal moment in “unofficial” Soviet music. By looking more closely at both Laments and Rejoinder, this chapter helps pinpoint the most important artistic and social changes that were occurring around 1970, near the end of the “Thaw” and the beginnings of both “Stagnation” and Yurchak's “late socialism.” These two works help further define the “paradox” of the 1970s simultaneous “immutability” and “displacement” that anthropologist Alexei Yurchak so provocatively proposes in his work. Edison Denisov Laments (Plachi) Andrey Volkonsky Rejoinder (Replika) 1968 Czechoslovakia resistance Alexei Yurchak Stagnation late socialismLess
This chapter discusses the musical repercussions of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by focusing on an “unofficial” concert that took place in 1970 featuring two compositions, one of which was Edison Denisov's Laments (Plachi, 1966), the other a collectively composed work usually credited to Andrey Volkonsky called Rejoinder (Replika). Rejoinder in particular encapsulates many of the shifts that 1968 signaled even as it illuminates the ambiguous possibilities for resistance at a pivotal moment in “unofficial” Soviet music. By looking more closely at both Laments and Rejoinder, this chapter helps pinpoint the most important artistic and social changes that were occurring around 1970, near the end of the “Thaw” and the beginnings of both “Stagnation” and Yurchak's “late socialism.” These two works help further define the “paradox” of the 1970s simultaneous “immutability” and “displacement” that anthropologist Alexei Yurchak so provocatively proposes in his work. Edison Denisov Laments (Plachi) Andrey Volkonsky Rejoinder (Replika) 1968 Czechoslovakia resistance Alexei Yurchak Stagnation late socialism
Carolyne Larrington
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119821
- eISBN:
- 9780191671210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119821.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This chapter examines the gnomic voice in Old Norse and Old English elegy. In some elegiac verse in Old Norse, a gnomic element plays a significant part because of its double task of lament and ...
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This chapter examines the gnomic voice in Old Norse and Old English elegy. In some elegiac verse in Old Norse, a gnomic element plays a significant part because of its double task of lament and praise for the dead. Elegy in Old English ranges from personal lament to philosophical consideration of worldly existence. It ranges from elegies that correspond to the Greek goos like Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife’s Lament to meditative laments like The Wanderer and the The Seafarer.Less
This chapter examines the gnomic voice in Old Norse and Old English elegy. In some elegiac verse in Old Norse, a gnomic element plays a significant part because of its double task of lament and praise for the dead. Elegy in Old English ranges from personal lament to philosophical consideration of worldly existence. It ranges from elegies that correspond to the Greek goos like Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife’s Lament to meditative laments like The Wanderer and the The Seafarer.
JILL MIDDLEMAS
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199283866
- eISBN:
- 9780191603457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199283869.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter continues to explore worship in the homeland, but with particular attention to Yahwistic practice. It contains two foci: (1) what type of Yahwistic ritual continued in the homeland and ...
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This chapter continues to explore worship in the homeland, but with particular attention to Yahwistic practice. It contains two foci: (1) what type of Yahwistic ritual continued in the homeland and where did it occur? and (2) a survey of the lament literature commonly associated with that setting. After closer study of the laments typically associated with Templeless Judah (Pss. 74, 79, 89, 102; Isa. 63:7-64:11) it is clear that a variety of influences disallow the attribution of liturgical poems to Judah without an understanding of what might be typical of Judahite thought. Moreover, the ascription of laments to worship at the temple represents another conception from outside the community in sixth-century Judah, in this instance, from modern scholarship.Less
This chapter continues to explore worship in the homeland, but with particular attention to Yahwistic practice. It contains two foci: (1) what type of Yahwistic ritual continued in the homeland and where did it occur? and (2) a survey of the lament literature commonly associated with that setting. After closer study of the laments typically associated with Templeless Judah (Pss. 74, 79, 89, 102; Isa. 63:7-64:11) it is clear that a variety of influences disallow the attribution of liturgical poems to Judah without an understanding of what might be typical of Judahite thought. Moreover, the ascription of laments to worship at the temple represents another conception from outside the community in sixth-century Judah, in this instance, from modern scholarship.
JILL MIDDLEMAS
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199283866
- eISBN:
- 9780191603457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199283869.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter turns to Lamentations as it is most widely regarded as stemming from Templeless Judah. Of the five poems in the book, chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 have the greatest claim to belong to ...
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This chapter turns to Lamentations as it is most widely regarded as stemming from Templeless Judah. Of the five poems in the book, chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 have the greatest claim to belong to Templeless Judah. These chapters of the book of Lamentations are used typologically to isolate prominent concepts. Five themes are found to be distinctive to the religious thought of Templeless Judah: (1) an emphasis on the extent of unalleviated human suffering, (2) the explicit assertion of uncertainty in future possibilities, (3) the downplaying of the association of human sin and judgement, (4) the need to witness to pain through the expression of grief especially within worship, and (5) the forming of grief in such a way as to limit it and evoke a future orientation. The delineation of themes distinctive to Judah provides a measuring rod with which to approach other material thought to stem from the homeland.Less
This chapter turns to Lamentations as it is most widely regarded as stemming from Templeless Judah. Of the five poems in the book, chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 have the greatest claim to belong to Templeless Judah. These chapters of the book of Lamentations are used typologically to isolate prominent concepts. Five themes are found to be distinctive to the religious thought of Templeless Judah: (1) an emphasis on the extent of unalleviated human suffering, (2) the explicit assertion of uncertainty in future possibilities, (3) the downplaying of the association of human sin and judgement, (4) the need to witness to pain through the expression of grief especially within worship, and (5) the forming of grief in such a way as to limit it and evoke a future orientation. The delineation of themes distinctive to Judah provides a measuring rod with which to approach other material thought to stem from the homeland.
Anne Cotterill
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199261178
- eISBN:
- 9780191717598
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261178.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter addresses the eccentric length and aggressive narrator of Donne's Anniversaries (1612). Donne uses the public occasion of lamenting a deceased girl he never knew to anatomize his own ...
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This chapter addresses the eccentric length and aggressive narrator of Donne's Anniversaries (1612). Donne uses the public occasion of lamenting a deceased girl he never knew to anatomize his own fears of loss — including the loss with life's breath of inspiration — and to return to poetic life, rising with Elizabeth Drury to a superior vantage. The arc of past descent ‘represented’, climaxed by the beheaded man (II.9-17), and future ascent of the ‘low’ ‘contemplated’, climaxing in the violence of a burst abscess (II.474-482), suggest his drama of failed opportunities and determination to rise with his new patron. Donne's brooding over physical and psychical imprisonment, depletion, and dissolution — and ambition that drives him to speak beyond the requirements and understanding of his patron — propel the inordinate length. Lament and anger shape the digressive, serpentine mode of praise for his subject, which combines a surge forward of hyperbole and detours into satire.Less
This chapter addresses the eccentric length and aggressive narrator of Donne's Anniversaries (1612). Donne uses the public occasion of lamenting a deceased girl he never knew to anatomize his own fears of loss — including the loss with life's breath of inspiration — and to return to poetic life, rising with Elizabeth Drury to a superior vantage. The arc of past descent ‘represented’, climaxed by the beheaded man (II.9-17), and future ascent of the ‘low’ ‘contemplated’, climaxing in the violence of a burst abscess (II.474-482), suggest his drama of failed opportunities and determination to rise with his new patron. Donne's brooding over physical and psychical imprisonment, depletion, and dissolution — and ambition that drives him to speak beyond the requirements and understanding of his patron — propel the inordinate length. Lament and anger shape the digressive, serpentine mode of praise for his subject, which combines a surge forward of hyperbole and detours into satire.
David Clark
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199558155
- eISBN:
- 9780191721342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558155.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Anglo-Saxon / Old English Literature
The first chapter analyses three poems most often considered to be about heterosexual romantic love as a means of destabilizing at the outset assumptions often made about Old English texts. It argues ...
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The first chapter analyses three poems most often considered to be about heterosexual romantic love as a means of destabilizing at the outset assumptions often made about Old English texts. It argues that such interpretations often rest upon heterosexist and anachronistic preconceptions which are invisible because they lay implicit claim to be normative. It also reviews the arguments which claim male narrators for Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's Lament and the reception of these critical manoeuvres. It concludes with a call to examine more rigorously our cultural assumptions about the Anglo‐Saxon period and its literature, and by acknowledging the primacy of homosocial desire.Less
The first chapter analyses three poems most often considered to be about heterosexual romantic love as a means of destabilizing at the outset assumptions often made about Old English texts. It argues that such interpretations often rest upon heterosexist and anachronistic preconceptions which are invisible because they lay implicit claim to be normative. It also reviews the arguments which claim male narrators for Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's Lament and the reception of these critical manoeuvres. It concludes with a call to examine more rigorously our cultural assumptions about the Anglo‐Saxon period and its literature, and by acknowledging the primacy of homosocial desire.
Jacob Stromberg
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199593910
- eISBN:
- 9780191595707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199593910.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter examines the formation of Third Isaiah, beginning with two areas of broad agreement: that chapters 60–62 form an early core of material in dependence on which much of the rest of Third ...
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This chapter examines the formation of Third Isaiah, beginning with two areas of broad agreement: that chapters 60–62 form an early core of material in dependence on which much of the rest of Third Isaiah was later added; that 56:1–8 and 65–66 form a ‘frame’ around the whole, and stem from the hand responsible for Third Isaiah's final form. With these two points in place, the remaining material is examined, producing the following conclusions: that the lament in 63:7–64:11 is presupposed by, and therefore earlier than, the divine response in 65–66; that 56:9–59:21 can plausibly be ascribed to the hand behind 56:1–8 and 65–66, and therefore to Third Isaiah's latest layer; that the oracle against Edom in 63:1–6 is developed by, and therefore earlier than, 59:15–20. Thus, Isaiah 56:1–8 and 65–66 emerge as important texts for defining Third Isaiah's final form.Less
This chapter examines the formation of Third Isaiah, beginning with two areas of broad agreement: that chapters 60–62 form an early core of material in dependence on which much of the rest of Third Isaiah was later added; that 56:1–8 and 65–66 form a ‘frame’ around the whole, and stem from the hand responsible for Third Isaiah's final form. With these two points in place, the remaining material is examined, producing the following conclusions: that the lament in 63:7–64:11 is presupposed by, and therefore earlier than, the divine response in 65–66; that 56:9–59:21 can plausibly be ascribed to the hand behind 56:1–8 and 65–66, and therefore to Third Isaiah's latest layer; that the oracle against Edom in 63:1–6 is developed by, and therefore earlier than, 59:15–20. Thus, Isaiah 56:1–8 and 65–66 emerge as important texts for defining Third Isaiah's final form.
Emily Wilbourne
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226401577
- eISBN:
- 9780226401607
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226401607.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
This book considers the relationship between commedia dell’arte and early operatic forms, from the court operas of the first years of the seventeenth century, through semi-private productions in ...
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This book considers the relationship between commedia dell’arte and early operatic forms, from the court operas of the first years of the seventeenth century, through semi-private productions in Rome, to the public stages of Venice over fifty years later. While musicology has largely ignored the commedia dell’arte, except in cases of specifically comic opera characters, this book offers a corrective. A substantial re-contextualisation of the term “commedia dell’arte,” in line with recent scholarly developments in Italian-language theatre studies, emphasizes the partial nature of standard musicological treatments of the genre. The importance of serious commedia dell’arte characters is articulated, with particular attention given to the prime donne innamorate and the use of lament. Through a series of case studies based on commedia dell’arte plays, musical performances, pedagogical texts on acting, and several of the century’s best-known operatic works, the book argues that sound itself functioned as a crucial and influential component of commedia dell’arte dramaturgy. Furthermore, the author argues that the aural epistemology of the commedia dell’arte theatre—in which the gender, class, geographic origins, motivations and predilections of each character were audible in their voice—trained Italian audiences in habits of listening that rendered the musical drama of opera verisimilar according to existing dramatic norms, thus underwriting the success of the genre.Less
This book considers the relationship between commedia dell’arte and early operatic forms, from the court operas of the first years of the seventeenth century, through semi-private productions in Rome, to the public stages of Venice over fifty years later. While musicology has largely ignored the commedia dell’arte, except in cases of specifically comic opera characters, this book offers a corrective. A substantial re-contextualisation of the term “commedia dell’arte,” in line with recent scholarly developments in Italian-language theatre studies, emphasizes the partial nature of standard musicological treatments of the genre. The importance of serious commedia dell’arte characters is articulated, with particular attention given to the prime donne innamorate and the use of lament. Through a series of case studies based on commedia dell’arte plays, musical performances, pedagogical texts on acting, and several of the century’s best-known operatic works, the book argues that sound itself functioned as a crucial and influential component of commedia dell’arte dramaturgy. Furthermore, the author argues that the aural epistemology of the commedia dell’arte theatre—in which the gender, class, geographic origins, motivations and predilections of each character were audible in their voice—trained Italian audiences in habits of listening that rendered the musical drama of opera verisimilar according to existing dramatic norms, thus underwriting the success of the genre.
Anne E. McLaren
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832322
- eISBN:
- 9780824869366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832322.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter presents a reconstruction of the social order as expressed the laments of a woman called Pan Cailian. The bride imagines the social order as a cleavage between rich and poor, educated ...
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This chapter presents a reconstruction of the social order as expressed the laments of a woman called Pan Cailian. The bride imagines the social order as a cleavage between rich and poor, educated and uneducated, between those with property and those without, between officialdom and those with no official connections. She conjures up the domains of the niangjia (home of her mother) and the pojia (home of her mother-in-law) through sharply contrasting images of residences, furniture, food, cooking equipment, clothing, household objects, notions of education, and literacy. The niangjia is conceived as impoverished but familiar and free, whereas the pojia is perceived to be wealthy and powerful, but also harsh, restrictive, and alien. The irony of the bride's poetic grievance is that, in order to realize the dream of social mobility implicit in her movement towards the pojia, she will have to abandon the cozy but poor surroundings of her youth and enter the domain of this feared elite.Less
This chapter presents a reconstruction of the social order as expressed the laments of a woman called Pan Cailian. The bride imagines the social order as a cleavage between rich and poor, educated and uneducated, between those with property and those without, between officialdom and those with no official connections. She conjures up the domains of the niangjia (home of her mother) and the pojia (home of her mother-in-law) through sharply contrasting images of residences, furniture, food, cooking equipment, clothing, household objects, notions of education, and literacy. The niangjia is conceived as impoverished but familiar and free, whereas the pojia is perceived to be wealthy and powerful, but also harsh, restrictive, and alien. The irony of the bride's poetic grievance is that, in order to realize the dream of social mobility implicit in her movement towards the pojia, she will have to abandon the cozy but poor surroundings of her youth and enter the domain of this feared elite.
Anne E. McLaren
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832322
- eISBN:
- 9780824869366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832322.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines the stages and verbal artistry of the lament cycle in order to appreciate the rhetorical strategies deployed by the bride and her mother, and the reasons why laments moved and ...
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This chapter examines the stages and verbal artistry of the lament cycle in order to appreciate the rhetorical strategies deployed by the bride and her mother, and the reasons why laments moved and “entertained” their audiences. It first discusses the poetics of Nanhui laments, particularly the way in which they reflect the poetic and linguistic attributes of folk songs of the Wu area. Next it looks at the various stages of the lament cycle within the marriage ceremony, beginning with the verbal duel between the mother and daughter, proceeding to the daughter's “thanks” to family members, and then to laments sung at specific moments in the bridal departure. It also discusses how the lament reflected—or in some cases, failed to reflect—common Nanhui marriage practices, and how the participants in this lament cycle constructed a notion of marriage somewhat at odds with the canonical Confucian idea of wifely submission. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the bride rhetorically “negotiated” her value in terms of the bride-price and dowry and sought to build up strong natal ties that could continue to offer her protection and status in her new home.Less
This chapter examines the stages and verbal artistry of the lament cycle in order to appreciate the rhetorical strategies deployed by the bride and her mother, and the reasons why laments moved and “entertained” their audiences. It first discusses the poetics of Nanhui laments, particularly the way in which they reflect the poetic and linguistic attributes of folk songs of the Wu area. Next it looks at the various stages of the lament cycle within the marriage ceremony, beginning with the verbal duel between the mother and daughter, proceeding to the daughter's “thanks” to family members, and then to laments sung at specific moments in the bridal departure. It also discusses how the lament reflected—or in some cases, failed to reflect—common Nanhui marriage practices, and how the participants in this lament cycle constructed a notion of marriage somewhat at odds with the canonical Confucian idea of wifely submission. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the bride rhetorically “negotiated” her value in terms of the bride-price and dowry and sought to build up strong natal ties that could continue to offer her protection and status in her new home.
Anne E. McLaren
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832322
- eISBN:
- 9780824869366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832322.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter discusses several types of evidence for the ritual power of bridal Chinese laments. The first body of evidence comes from popular notions about wedding pollution and the numerous ...
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This chapter discusses several types of evidence for the ritual power of bridal Chinese laments. The first body of evidence comes from popular notions about wedding pollution and the numerous exorcistic practices that are interwoven throughout popular wedding practices. The second set of evidence comes from legends about the origin of bridal laments drawn from many regions of China. These typically depict the origin of lamentation as an act of female agency carried out by woman when threatened at the time of marriage. In this interpretation, lamenting becomes a form of verbal sorcery performed by brides to ward off disaster. Finally, the chapter turns to the other type of lament where women were agents of ritual power, funeral laments.Less
This chapter discusses several types of evidence for the ritual power of bridal Chinese laments. The first body of evidence comes from popular notions about wedding pollution and the numerous exorcistic practices that are interwoven throughout popular wedding practices. The second set of evidence comes from legends about the origin of bridal laments drawn from many regions of China. These typically depict the origin of lamentation as an act of female agency carried out by woman when threatened at the time of marriage. In this interpretation, lamenting becomes a form of verbal sorcery performed by brides to ward off disaster. Finally, the chapter turns to the other type of lament where women were agents of ritual power, funeral laments.
Sean Williams and Lillis Ó Laoire
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195321180
- eISBN:
- 9780199893713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321180.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music, History, American
Heaney's relationship with religion—both its practices and its general philosophies—was thorny and difficult. Raised in a culture of Catholicism, he was most comfortable with the form of vernacular ...
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Heaney's relationship with religion—both its practices and its general philosophies—was thorny and difficult. Raised in a culture of Catholicism, he was most comfortable with the form of vernacular religion that developed during the time of the suppression of Catholicism. Women, in particular, were responsible for the management of grief through keening at funerals. In a lament, women would sing about the death of Jesus from the perspective of Mary as a way to engage the community members in their own grieving process. Joe Heaney performed three laments centered around the life and death of Jesus, each of which had been excluded from the official forms of religious expression. In performing these laments, he highlighted existing tensions between the individual and the collective, the official and the vernacular, and the modern and traditional.Less
Heaney's relationship with religion—both its practices and its general philosophies—was thorny and difficult. Raised in a culture of Catholicism, he was most comfortable with the form of vernacular religion that developed during the time of the suppression of Catholicism. Women, in particular, were responsible for the management of grief through keening at funerals. In a lament, women would sing about the death of Jesus from the perspective of Mary as a way to engage the community members in their own grieving process. Joe Heaney performed three laments centered around the life and death of Jesus, each of which had been excluded from the official forms of religious expression. In performing these laments, he highlighted existing tensions between the individual and the collective, the official and the vernacular, and the modern and traditional.
JOANNA SUMMERS
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199271290
- eISBN:
- 9780191709586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199271290.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter examines how Ashby's poetry enlarges upon references to his life in historical records, pertaining to his service to the Lancastrian royal family and his work in the signet office. It ...
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This chapter examines how Ashby's poetry enlarges upon references to his life in historical records, pertaining to his service to the Lancastrian royal family and his work in the signet office. It discusses how A Prisoner's Reflections contains details specific to Ashby, which iterate an autobiographical veracity, and invite a reading that conflates narrator and author. The chapter examines how Ashby's concerns in the Reflections appear primarily pedagogical, and yet he also creates an autobiographical textual identity, and to construct this identity, deploys intertextuality. For the Reflections is a Boethian poem: Ashby's presentation of an imprisoned lamenting autobiographical identity whose sufferings are introduced as a departure point for didactic concerns; the Boethian gradus of ascendance; and the incorporation of Boethian philosophical maxims, invite a reading of Ashby's persona as a latter-day Boethius. This chapter also argues that Ashby incorporates allusions to Lament of a Prisoner against Fortune.Less
This chapter examines how Ashby's poetry enlarges upon references to his life in historical records, pertaining to his service to the Lancastrian royal family and his work in the signet office. It discusses how A Prisoner's Reflections contains details specific to Ashby, which iterate an autobiographical veracity, and invite a reading that conflates narrator and author. The chapter examines how Ashby's concerns in the Reflections appear primarily pedagogical, and yet he also creates an autobiographical textual identity, and to construct this identity, deploys intertextuality. For the Reflections is a Boethian poem: Ashby's presentation of an imprisoned lamenting autobiographical identity whose sufferings are introduced as a departure point for didactic concerns; the Boethian gradus of ascendance; and the incorporation of Boethian philosophical maxims, invite a reading of Ashby's persona as a latter-day Boethius. This chapter also argues that Ashby incorporates allusions to Lament of a Prisoner against Fortune.
