W. S. Barrett
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203574
- eISBN:
- 9780191708183
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203574.003.0018
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines those scenes in the plays of Euripides which consist of a duet or dialogue conducted partly in excited lyric metres (predominantly dochmiac) and partly in iambic trimeters ...
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This chapter examines those scenes in the plays of Euripides which consist of a duet or dialogue conducted partly in excited lyric metres (predominantly dochmiac) and partly in iambic trimeters similar to the spoken iambics of dialogue. First, it classifies certain ‘licences’ — that is, divergences, real or apparent, from the strict distinction of complete iambic trimeters on the one hand and lyric metres on the other — and maintains that these licences do not constitute exceptions to the general distinction. Second, it examines, scene by scene, the surviving exceptions to the distinction, and attempts to show that each of them either has a motive or is to be removed by the correction of a false ascription in the manuscripts or the current texts.Less
This chapter examines those scenes in the plays of Euripides which consist of a duet or dialogue conducted partly in excited lyric metres (predominantly dochmiac) and partly in iambic trimeters similar to the spoken iambics of dialogue. First, it classifies certain ‘licences’ — that is, divergences, real or apparent, from the strict distinction of complete iambic trimeters on the one hand and lyric metres on the other — and maintains that these licences do not constitute exceptions to the general distinction. Second, it examines, scene by scene, the surviving exceptions to the distinction, and attempts to show that each of them either has a motive or is to be removed by the correction of a false ascription in the manuscripts or the current texts.
Kiichiro Itsumi
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199229611
- eISBN:
- 9780191710780
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199229611.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book describes the metrical features of the twenty-two Pindaric epinikia which are not composed in dactylo-epitrite (‘the other half’). These odes are puzzling, and scholars currently assume, ...
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This book describes the metrical features of the twenty-two Pindaric epinikia which are not composed in dactylo-epitrite (‘the other half’). These odes are puzzling, and scholars currently assume, without detailed examination, that they are all composed in a single type of metre which is often called ‘aeolic’. The book argues that there are in fact two types of metre (Pindaric epinikia are not as polymetric as the odes of tragedy), and divides the metrical styles of the stanza-forms of the ‘other half’ into three groups, according to the way in which these two metres are knitted together. This is the main theme of Part I. Part II consists of metrical commentaries. The structure of each stanza-form is analysed and compared with others, and abundant metrical parallels are provided, both for the individual verses and for the stanza-form as a whole. In a few passages textual problems are also discussed, for metrical study is in part an auxiliary discipline of textual criticism. In particular, metrical understanding is essential when one has to judge whether or not exact responsion may be broken in a particular metrical position. In an Appendix to this Part, the metrical features of the major fragments (most of which are Paeans) and their characteristics are also described. With its clear identification of a series of precise entities from which Pindar's verses are made, the book's study as a whole imposes a new clarity and discipline on what had previously seemed a much vaguer process.Less
This book describes the metrical features of the twenty-two Pindaric epinikia which are not composed in dactylo-epitrite (‘the other half’). These odes are puzzling, and scholars currently assume, without detailed examination, that they are all composed in a single type of metre which is often called ‘aeolic’. The book argues that there are in fact two types of metre (Pindaric epinikia are not as polymetric as the odes of tragedy), and divides the metrical styles of the stanza-forms of the ‘other half’ into three groups, according to the way in which these two metres are knitted together. This is the main theme of Part I. Part II consists of metrical commentaries. The structure of each stanza-form is analysed and compared with others, and abundant metrical parallels are provided, both for the individual verses and for the stanza-form as a whole. In a few passages textual problems are also discussed, for metrical study is in part an auxiliary discipline of textual criticism. In particular, metrical understanding is essential when one has to judge whether or not exact responsion may be broken in a particular metrical position. In an Appendix to this Part, the metrical features of the major fragments (most of which are Paeans) and their characteristics are also described. With its clear identification of a series of precise entities from which Pindar's verses are made, the book's study as a whole imposes a new clarity and discipline on what had previously seemed a much vaguer process.
Rivkah Zim
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161808
- eISBN:
- 9781400852093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161808.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter demonstrates how Boethius' text established many of the themes and forms that spoke to and for later writers in prison. These include: consolation from the expressive power of ordered ...
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This chapter demonstrates how Boethius' text established many of the themes and forms that spoke to and for later writers in prison. These include: consolation from the expressive power of ordered lyric meters set against the disorder of injustice and suffering in the real world; the importance of a well-stocked mind and imagination in maintaining resistance to oppression; and the expressive potential of paradox in reconciling apparent contraries and celebrating the creativity that may arise under situations of adversity. The text also promoted the subtle simplicity of dialectic and patterns of opposing binaries used to resolve impossible tensions in apparently progressive forms of logical argument and related forms of dialogic exchange between different points of view represented in argument, correspondence, and intertextual allusiveness. Finally, it demonstrated the urgent need often experienced in the condemned cell to set the record straight (to name names) or to construct a memorial image of the authorial self and, more objectively, to testify for humankind by offering insights derived from the prisoner's experience.Less
This chapter demonstrates how Boethius' text established many of the themes and forms that spoke to and for later writers in prison. These include: consolation from the expressive power of ordered lyric meters set against the disorder of injustice and suffering in the real world; the importance of a well-stocked mind and imagination in maintaining resistance to oppression; and the expressive potential of paradox in reconciling apparent contraries and celebrating the creativity that may arise under situations of adversity. The text also promoted the subtle simplicity of dialectic and patterns of opposing binaries used to resolve impossible tensions in apparently progressive forms of logical argument and related forms of dialogic exchange between different points of view represented in argument, correspondence, and intertextual allusiveness. Finally, it demonstrated the urgent need often experienced in the condemned cell to set the record straight (to name names) or to construct a memorial image of the authorial self and, more objectively, to testify for humankind by offering insights derived from the prisoner's experience.
A. J. Bowen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781908343789
- eISBN:
- 9781800342873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781908343789.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter provides the original text and translation of Aeschylus' play the Suppliant Women. It describes the beginning of the play with a procession of girls that are accompanied by an older man ...
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This chapter provides the original text and translation of Aeschylus' play the Suppliant Women. It describes the beginning of the play with a procession of girls that are accompanied by an older man who is soon named as Danaus, their father. It also talks about how the girls, who were fugitives from Egypt, were brought by sea by Danaus to seek sanctuary in Argos, the homeland of a distant ancestress named Io. The chapter looks at the rhythm changes to the lyric metres of the Suppliant Women, which promise to tell the whole tale of how the daughters' of Danaus side-tracked into self-pity and then into pondering the inscrutability of Zeus. It recounts the scene of how the girls become more and more disturbed at the prospect of being married and start to repeat in ephymnia their more frantic protests.Less
This chapter provides the original text and translation of Aeschylus' play the Suppliant Women. It describes the beginning of the play with a procession of girls that are accompanied by an older man who is soon named as Danaus, their father. It also talks about how the girls, who were fugitives from Egypt, were brought by sea by Danaus to seek sanctuary in Argos, the homeland of a distant ancestress named Io. The chapter looks at the rhythm changes to the lyric metres of the Suppliant Women, which promise to tell the whole tale of how the daughters' of Danaus side-tracked into self-pity and then into pondering the inscrutability of Zeus. It recounts the scene of how the girls become more and more disturbed at the prospect of being married and start to repeat in ephymnia their more frantic protests.
