Kathleen McCarthy
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739552
- eISBN:
- 9781501739569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739552.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter examines the performative model of positioning the agency of the poet in relation to the speech and events depicted in the storyworld. This model hews more closely to the norms ...
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This chapter examines the performative model of positioning the agency of the poet in relation to the speech and events depicted in the storyworld. This model hews more closely to the norms established by traditional performed poetry. In this case, the speaker knows that his words have the special status of poetry, and his speech may be formulated with an eye to audiences other than the named interlocutor. In contrast to the speaker of conversational poems, who is focused on trying to exert his will through speech, the speaker in this performative model embodies the mastery of poetic form and the assurance granted to an authorized performer. Poems built on this model are more likely to exhibit formal features that thematize the special status of address or that require suspension of thought or that highlight the poem's overall structure. One can easily see how the agency of such a speaker echoes the agency of the poet crafting the text. The chapter then considers Catullus's invective poems and Horace's hymns and dedicatory poems.Less
This chapter examines the performative model of positioning the agency of the poet in relation to the speech and events depicted in the storyworld. This model hews more closely to the norms established by traditional performed poetry. In this case, the speaker knows that his words have the special status of poetry, and his speech may be formulated with an eye to audiences other than the named interlocutor. In contrast to the speaker of conversational poems, who is focused on trying to exert his will through speech, the speaker in this performative model embodies the mastery of poetic form and the assurance granted to an authorized performer. Poems built on this model are more likely to exhibit formal features that thematize the special status of address or that require suspension of thought or that highlight the poem's overall structure. One can easily see how the agency of such a speaker echoes the agency of the poet crafting the text. The chapter then considers Catullus's invective poems and Horace's hymns and dedicatory poems.
Laurie Patton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240872
- eISBN:
- 9780520930889
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240872.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. The book takes a new look at mantra as “performed poetry” and in five case studies ...
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This book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. The book takes a new look at mantra as “performed poetry” and in five case studies draws a portrait of early Indian sacrifice that moves beyond the well-worn categories of “magic” and “magico-religious” thought in Vedic sacrifice. Treating Vedic mantra as a sophisticated form of artistic composition, it develops the idea of metonymy, or associational thought, as a major motivator for the use of mantra in sacrificial performance. Filling a long-standing gap in our understanding, the book provides a history of the Indian interpretive imagination and a study of the mental creativity and hermeneutic sophistication of Vedic religion.Less
This book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. The book takes a new look at mantra as “performed poetry” and in five case studies draws a portrait of early Indian sacrifice that moves beyond the well-worn categories of “magic” and “magico-religious” thought in Vedic sacrifice. Treating Vedic mantra as a sophisticated form of artistic composition, it develops the idea of metonymy, or associational thought, as a major motivator for the use of mantra in sacrificial performance. Filling a long-standing gap in our understanding, the book provides a history of the Indian interpretive imagination and a study of the mental creativity and hermeneutic sophistication of Vedic religion.
Anna Marie Stirr
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190631970
- eISBN:
- 9780190632014
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190631970.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
An ethnographic study of music, performance, migration, and circulation, this book examines how forms of love and intimacy are linked to changing conceptions of political solidarity and forms of ...
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An ethnographic study of music, performance, migration, and circulation, this book examines how forms of love and intimacy are linked to changing conceptions of political solidarity and forms of belonging, through the lens of Nepali dohori song. The book describes dohori: improvised, dialogic performed poetry that is sung, in which a witty repartee of exchanges is based on poetic couplets with a fixed rhyme scheme, often backed by instrumental music and accompanying dance, performed between men and women, with a primary focus on romantic love. The book tells the story of dohori’s relationship with changing ideas of Nepal as a nation-state, and how different concepts of national unity have incorporated marginality, in the intersectional arenas of caste, indigeneity, class, gender, and regional identity. In the aftermath of Nepal’s ten-year civil war, changing political realities, increased migration, and circulation of people, media, and practices are redefining concepts of appropriate intimate relationships and their associated systems of exchange. Through multi-sited ethnography of performances, media production, circulation, reception, and the daily lives of performers and fans in Nepal and the United Kingdom, this book examines how people use dohori to challenge (and uphold) social categories, while also creating affective solidarities.Less
An ethnographic study of music, performance, migration, and circulation, this book examines how forms of love and intimacy are linked to changing conceptions of political solidarity and forms of belonging, through the lens of Nepali dohori song. The book describes dohori: improvised, dialogic performed poetry that is sung, in which a witty repartee of exchanges is based on poetic couplets with a fixed rhyme scheme, often backed by instrumental music and accompanying dance, performed between men and women, with a primary focus on romantic love. The book tells the story of dohori’s relationship with changing ideas of Nepal as a nation-state, and how different concepts of national unity have incorporated marginality, in the intersectional arenas of caste, indigeneity, class, gender, and regional identity. In the aftermath of Nepal’s ten-year civil war, changing political realities, increased migration, and circulation of people, media, and practices are redefining concepts of appropriate intimate relationships and their associated systems of exchange. Through multi-sited ethnography of performances, media production, circulation, reception, and the daily lives of performers and fans in Nepal and the United Kingdom, this book examines how people use dohori to challenge (and uphold) social categories, while also creating affective solidarities.
