Theocritus' Pastoral Analogies

Theocritus' Pastoral Analogies PDF Author: Kathryn J. Gutzwiller
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 9780299129446
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
In a book as beautifully written as the poetry it celebrates, Kathryn Gutzwiller uses the famous Idylls of Theocritus to show us the formative processes at work in the creation of a literary genre--the pastoral--and how the very structure of a genre both shapes and limits judgments about it. Gutzwiller argues that Theocritus' position as first pastoralist has haunted critical assessments of him. Was he merely a beginner, whose simple descriptions of country life were reworked by Vergil into poems of imagination and tender feeling? Or was he a genius of great creative ability, who first found the way to encapsulate in humble detail a metaphysical vision of man's emotional core? Examining Theocritus from the point of view of "beginnings," Gutzwiller succeeds in placing him both within his native Greek intellectual tradition and within the tradition of critical commentary on pastoral. As she points out, "beginnings are hard to pin down . . . the thing begun did not exist before and yet its composite parts were already somewhere in existence." Gutzwiller provides an analysis of the herdsman figure in pre-Hellenistic Greek literature, showing that the simple shepherd or goatherd had long been used as a figure of analogy for characters of higher rank. Theocritus was the first poet to focus on the shepherd himself and bring the analogies down into the pastoral world. Through her careful analyses of the seven pastoral Idylls, Gutzwiller demonstrates that in turning the focus on the shepherd Theocritus created a group of literary works with an inner structure so unique that later readers considered it a new genre. In her conclusion Gutzwiller explores subsequent controversies about the pastoral, from ancient to modern times, revealing how they continue to reflect the structural pattern that originated in Theocritus's poetry.

Theocritus' Pastoral Analogies

Theocritus' Pastoral Analogies PDF Author: Kathryn J. Gutzwiller
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 9780299129446
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
In a book as beautifully written as the poetry it celebrates, Kathryn Gutzwiller uses the famous Idylls of Theocritus to show us the formative processes at work in the creation of a literary genre--the pastoral--and how the very structure of a genre both shapes and limits judgments about it. Gutzwiller argues that Theocritus' position as first pastoralist has haunted critical assessments of him. Was he merely a beginner, whose simple descriptions of country life were reworked by Vergil into poems of imagination and tender feeling? Or was he a genius of great creative ability, who first found the way to encapsulate in humble detail a metaphysical vision of man's emotional core? Examining Theocritus from the point of view of "beginnings," Gutzwiller succeeds in placing him both within his native Greek intellectual tradition and within the tradition of critical commentary on pastoral. As she points out, "beginnings are hard to pin down . . . the thing begun did not exist before and yet its composite parts were already somewhere in existence." Gutzwiller provides an analysis of the herdsman figure in pre-Hellenistic Greek literature, showing that the simple shepherd or goatherd had long been used as a figure of analogy for characters of higher rank. Theocritus was the first poet to focus on the shepherd himself and bring the analogies down into the pastoral world. Through her careful analyses of the seven pastoral Idylls, Gutzwiller demonstrates that in turning the focus on the shepherd Theocritus created a group of literary works with an inner structure so unique that later readers considered it a new genre. In her conclusion Gutzwiller explores subsequent controversies about the pastoral, from ancient to modern times, revealing how they continue to reflect the structural pattern that originated in Theocritus's poetry.

Brill's Companion to Theocritus

Brill's Companion to Theocritus PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004466711
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 852

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Book Description
Brill's Companion to Theocritus offers an up-to-date guide to a thorough understanding of Theocritus’ literary output. Exploring his corpus from a variety of novel perspectives, it presents a detailed account of the intricacy of Theocritus’ poetic art.

Pastoral Palimpsests

Pastoral Palimpsests PDF Author: Michael Paschalis
Publisher: Michael Paschalis
ISBN: 9605242370
Category : Comparative literature
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics PDF Author: Roland Greene
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691154910
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 1678

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Book Description
Rev. ed. of: The Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics / Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, co-editors; Frank J. Warnke, O.B. Hardison, Jr., and Earl Miner, associate editors. 1993.

The Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms

The Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms PDF Author: Roland Greene
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691170436
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
An essential handbook for literary studies The Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms—drawn from the latest edition of the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics—provides an authoritative guide to the most important terms in the study of poetry and literature. Featuring 226 fully revised and updated entries, including 100 that are new to this edition, the book offers clear and insightful definitions and discussions of critical concepts, genres, forms, movements, and poetic elements, followed by invaluable, up-to-date bibliographies that guide users to further reading and research. Because the entries are carefully selected and adapted from the Princeton Encyclopedia, the Handbook has unrivalled breadth and depth for a book of its kind, in a convenient, portable size. Fully indexed for the first time and complete with an introduction by the editors, this is an essential volume for all literature students, teachers, and researchers, as well as other readers and writers. Drawn from the latest edition of the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics Provides 226 fully updated and authoritative entries, including 100 new to this edition, written by an international team of leading scholars Features entries on critical concepts (canon, mimesis, prosody, syntax); genres, forms, and movements (ballad, blank verse, confessional poetry, ode); and terms (apostrophe, hypotaxis and parataxis, meter, tone) Includes an introduction, bibliographies, cross-references, and a full index

Fifty Key Classical Authors

Fifty Key Classical Authors PDF Author: Alison Sharrock
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134709765
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
A chronological guide to influential Greek and Roman writers, Fifty Key Classical Authors is an invaluable introduction to the literature, philosophy and history of the ancient world. Including essays on Sappho, Polybius and Lucan, as well as on major figures such as Homer, Plato, Catullus and Cicero, this book is a vital tool for all students of classical civilization.

The New Posidippus

The New Posidippus PDF Author: Kathryn Gutzwiller
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019151490X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
The Milan Papyrus ( P. Mil. Volg. VIII. 309), containing a collection of epigrams apparently all by Posidippus of Pella, provides one of the most exciting new additions to the corpus of Greek literature in decades. It not only contains over 100 previously unknown epigrams by one of the most prominent poets of the third century BC, but as an artefact it constitutes our earliest example of a Greek poetry book. In addition to a poetic translation of the entire corpus of Posidippus' poetry, this volume contains essays about Posidippus by experts in the fields of papyrology, Hellenistic and Augustan literature, Ptolemaic history, and Graeco-Roman visual culture.

Timon of Phlius

Timon of Phlius PDF Author: Dee L. Clayman
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110220814
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Early Skepticism and its founder, Pyrrho of Elis, were introduced to the world in the third century BCE by the poet and philosopher Timon of Phlius. This is the first book-length study in English of the fragments of Timon’s works. Of his more than 100 titles, four fragments remain of a catalogue elegy, the Indalmoi, and 133 verses of the Silloi, a hexameter parody in three books in which Timon ridicules philosophers of all periods whom he observes on a trip to Hades. Dee L. Clayman reconstructs the books of the Silloi starting from an outline in Diogenes Laertius and the book numbers assigned to a few fragments by their sources. This has not been attempted since Wachsmuth’s edition of 1885, and carries his approach further by careful observation of syntactic and contextual clues in the text. Using the Greek text of Lloyd-Jones and Parsons of 1983, all of the extant fragments are translated into English and discussed as literature, rather than as source material for the history of philosophy. Separate chapters demonstrate that the principle Hellenistic poets, Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius of Rhodes, were aware of Timon’s work specifically, and of Skepticism generally. The book concludes with a definition of “Skeptical aesthetics” that places many of the characteristic features of Hellenistic literature in a skeptical milieu.

A Guide to Hellenistic Literature

A Guide to Hellenistic Literature PDF Author: Kathryn Gutzwiller
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470766085
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This book is a guide to the extraordinarily diverse literature of the Hellenistic period. A guide to the literature of the Hellenistic age, from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC Provides overviews of the social, political, intellectual and literary historical contexts in which Hellenistic literature was produced Introduces the major writers and genres of the period Provides information about style, meter and languages to aid readers with no prior knowledge of the language in understanding technical aspects of literary Greek Distinctive in its coverage of current issues in Hellenistic criticism, including audience reception, the political and social background, and Hellenistic theories of literature

Poetry as Window and Mirror

Poetry as Window and Mirror PDF Author: Jacqueline Klooster
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004210091
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Hellenistic Poetry has enjoyed a notable re-appreciation in recent years and received ample scholarly discussion, especially focusing on its reception and innovation of Greek poetic tradition. This book wishes to add to our picture of how Hellenistic poetry works by looking at it from a slightly different angle. Concentrating on the interaction between contemporary poets, it attempts to view the dynamics of imitation and reception in the light of poetical self-positioning. In the courtly Alexandrian surroundings, choosing a poetic model and affiliation determines one's position in the cultural field. This book sets out to chart, not only the well-known complexities of handling the poetic past, but especially their relation to the poetic interaction of the Hellenistic, in particular Alexandrian poets.