DOCSLIB.ORG

An Intertextual Approach to Problems of Genre and Heroism in Statius’ Achilleid

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Intertextual Approach to Problems of Genre and Heroism in Statius’ Achilleid Appropriate Transgressions: An Intertextual Approach to Problems of Genre and Heroism in Statius’ Achilleid By Hanna Z. C. Mason A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Classics Victoria University of Wellington 2013 Abstract Statius’ second epic poem, the Achilleid, deals with a subject matter that is particularly problematic: Achilles’ early life, in which he is raised by a centaur in the wilderness and then disguises himself as a woman in order to rape the princess of Scyros. Recent scholarship has also pointed to other problematic elements, such as Achilles’ troublesome relationship with his mother or the epic’s intertextual engagement with elegiac and ‘un-epic’ poetry. This thesis extends such scholarship by analysing Statius’ use of transgression in particular. It focuses primarily upon the heroic character of Achilles and the generic program of the Achilleid as a whole. The first chapter focuses upon Achilles’ childhood and early youth as a foster child and student of the centaur Chiron. It demonstrates that the hero’s upbringing is used to emphasise his ambiguous nature in line with the Homeric Iliad, as a hero who is capable of acting appropriately, but chooses not to. Achilles’ wild and bestial nature is emphasised by its difference to the half-human character of Chiron, who might be expected to be act like an animal, but instead becomes an example of civilisation overcoming innate savagery, an example of what Achilles could have been. The second chapter discusses the ambiguities inherent in a study of transgression, in the light of Achilles’ transvestite episode on Scyros. Numerous intertextual allusions construct various sets of expected behaviours for the transvestite youth, but his failure to live up to any of them portrays him as a truly transgressive hero. In this way, he is similar to Hercules or Bacchus, whose heroism is constructed partly upon their transgressive natures and inability to conform to societal custom. In the final chapter, the study of transgression is extended to Statius’ generic program, associating the epic with elegy. Statius employs many elegiac tropes, and makes numerous allusions to the poetry of elegists such as Ovid and Propertius. In particular, elegiac poetry’s peculiar trope of constructing and emphasising boundaries in order that they may be crossed (thus making the poetry feel more transgressive) is mirrored in the Achilleid. In this way, the Achilleid’s engagement with transgression is considered to be, in part, a method for presenting an innately problematic hero to Statius’ Flavian audience in an accessible and interesting manner. To my sisters, Gemma, Kathryn, and Rhiannon, who all inspire me more than they will ever know. Contents Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................v Introduction: De componendo Achillem....................................................................1 Intertextuality in the Achilleid.........................................................................5 Summary of Chapters.......................................................................................7 Chapter One: The Nature and Education of Achilles................................................9 A Cultured Centaur........................................................................................11 Centaurs and Lapiths......................................................................................15 The Ambiguities of Thetis’ Dream................................................................20 Achilles as Apollo..........................................................................................26 Saevus Achilles...............................................................................................29 Conclusion.....................................................................................................36 Chapter Two: Layers of Transgression in Rape and Ritual.....................................38 Achilles as Diana...........................................................................................41 Maenadic Maidens of Scyros.........................................................................44 Ritual Archetypes...........................................................................................49 Bacchus, Hercules, and the Bona Dea...........................................................58 Conclusion.....................................................................................................65 Chapter Three: Elegiac Themes in the Achilleid.....................................................67 Statius’ Proem and Recusatio........................................................................70 Pudor and the Erotic Gaze.............................................................................75 Servitium Amoris............................................................................................82 Militia Amoris................................................................................................87 Conclusion.....................................................................................................90 Conclusion: An Elegiac Epic....................................................................................92 Works Cited..............................................................................................................96 iv Acknowledgements Particular thanks are due to my supervisors, Professor Art Pomeroy and Dr Mark Masterson. They each played a part in inspiring this topic several years ago, and their advice, criticism and moral support throughout my time at Victoria and especially in the past two years has improved this work to no end. I am honoured that they agreed to take me on as student. I would also like to thank my markers, Professor William J. Dominik and Dr Simon Perris, for the work that they did in assessment. While I am still very aware that this revised thesis is not perfect, it is significantly more polished thanks to the superbly detailed corrigenda and well-considered revisions that they recommended. Their efforts have also given me food for thought in my future work. Thanks are also owed to the many other lecturers, post-graduates, and former post-graduates of Victoria University’s Classics department. In particular, I would like to thank Dr Judy Deuling, Dr Peter Gainsford, Jen Oliver, Daniel Diggins, Alexandra Donnison, Christabel Marshall, and Chris de Lisle. All of these people played a role, either in editing and sanity-checking parts of this thesis, or in supporting me emotionally. I hope they can forgive my stubbornness, and know that the work they have done is greatly appreciated. Finally, thank you to my parents, and to Matthew Oswin, who deserves as much credit for the good in these pages as I do, although he never read a word. The cover image is a photograph of Poussin’s Achilles on Scyros, painted in 1656. Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Poussin_- _1656_-_Achilles_on_Skyros.jpg (accessed 9th April 2013). v Introduction: De componendo Achillem torpor est nostris sine te Camenis tardius sueto venit ipse Thymbrae rector et primis meus ecce metis haeret Achilles. Silv. 4.7.21-24 My muses are numb without you, the Thymbrian ruler (Apollo) himself comes slower than he is accustomed to, and behold, at the first turning posts my Achilles hesitates.1 Statius’ second epic, the Achilleid, was begun following the completion of the Thebaid, in the early-mid 90s CE. Though the first lines reveal an intention to tell the entirety of Achilles’ life (“ire per omnem... heroa velis”2 – “may you wish to go through the whole hero”, Ach. 1.4-5), upon the poet’s death in approximately 96 CE only the first book and the beginning of the second were completed. The stanza from Silvae 4.7 above may reveal something of the challenge of this project; while Statius is certainly intending to flatter his patron-addressee, Vibius Maximus, it is not difficult to see why even such an experienced poet might – hypothetically – be having problems with an Achilleid. As the subject of the Iliad, Achilles is the first great hero of the Classical literary tradition, even as his place in the mythic tradition (as the son of Peleus and one of the Greeks sacking Troy for the second time) makes him one of the last great heroes. For a poem that entirely subsumes the events of the Iliad, there is a fine line between writing in Homer’s shadow and hubristically attempting to outdo him, and Statius’ preeminence in the literary world of the late first Century only goes so far.3 Regardless of the reason for its incompletion, the portrait of Achilles’ youth that the Achilleid provides is so beautifully self-contained that it has been called “Statius’ final masterpiece.”4 Beginning in medias res, the epic tracks Achilles as he is taken by Thetis from Chiron’s cave in Thessaly, dressed in women’s clothing, and deposited among the daughters of King Lycomedes on Scyros. Attending a Bacchic religious festival supposedly off-limits to men, Achilles rapes the princess Deidamia, 1 All translations are my own. 2 I have used the text of Dilke’s 1954 edition of the Achilleid, except where I have noted otherwise. 3 Cf. Heslin (2005, xi-xii), who argues that Statius “in no way intended to compete directly with Homer.” 4 Heslin (2005), 62ff. 1 and conceives a son. He remains in women’s clothing until the arrival of
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ovid Book 12.30110457.Pdf
    METAMORPHOSES GLOSSARY AND INDEX The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that ap- pear in the print index are listed below. SINCE THIS index is not intended as a complete mythological dictionary, the explanations given here include only important information not readily available in the text itself. Names in parentheses are alternative Latin names, unless they are preceded by the abbreviation Gr.; Gr. indi- cates the name of the corresponding Greek divinity. The index includes cross-references for all alternative names. ACHAMENIDES. Former follower of Ulysses, rescued by Aeneas ACHELOUS. River god; rival of Hercules for the hand of Deianira ACHILLES. Greek hero of the Trojan War ACIS. Rival of the Cyclops, Polyphemus, for the hand of Galatea ACMON. Follower of Diomedes ACOETES. A faithful devotee of Bacchus ACTAEON ADONIS. Son of Myrrha, by her father Cinyras; loved by Venus AEACUS. King of Aegina; after death he became one of the three judges of the dead in the lower world AEGEUS. King of Athens; father of Theseus AENEAS. Trojan warrior; son of Anchises and Venus; sea-faring survivor of the Trojan War, he eventually landed in Latium, helped found Rome AESACUS. Son of Priam and a nymph AESCULAPIUS (Gr. Asclepius). God of medicine and healing; son of Apollo AESON. Father of Jason; made young again by Medea AGAMEMNON. King of Mycenae; commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in the Trojan War AGLAUROS AJAX.
    [Show full text]
  • Barron's Book Notes Virgil's the Aeneid
    BARRON'S BOOK NOTES VIRGIL'S THE AENEID ^^^^^^^^^^VIRGIL: THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES Virgil (Publius Virgilius Maro) was born in Mantua, a rural town north of Rome near the Alps. Even though Virgil's birth in 70 B.C. came in the middle of a century of political turmoil and civil war in Rome, life in Mantua was relatively peaceful, and Virgil's father, who was a prosperous Roman citizen, could afford to give his son a good education in the basics, especially Greek and Roman literature. When Virgil was about 17, his father decided that he should be a politician, or possibly a businessman, and sent him to Rome to study rhetoric (the art of public speaking). But Virgil was shy and hated having to make long, flowery speeches about things that didn't interest him at all. Instead he wrote poetry on the sly. His first and last attempt to argue a case in court was an embarrassing failure, and Virgil decided he didn't have a future in politics. He left Rome and went to live by the beautiful Bay of Naples where he studied philosophy. This was probably a good idea because Roman politics could be dangerous, even fatal. The Roman Republic's government was collapsing in civil war and mobs often rioted in the streets. Rival generals brought their troops home from foreign wars and used them against each other, each one trying to rule Rome his own way. Then in 44 B.C. Julius Caesar, the great Roman dictator, was assassinated and Rome was plunged into its worst political crisis--one that lasted more than a decade.
    [Show full text]
  • Sons and Fathers in the Catalogue of Argonauts in Apollonius Argonautica 1.23-233
    Sons and fathers in the catalogue of Argonauts in Apollonius Argonautica 1.23-233 ANNETTE HARDER University of Groningen [email protected] 1. Generations of heroes The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius brings emphatically to the attention of its readers the distinction between the generation of the Argonauts and the heroes of the Trojan War in the next genera- tion. Apollonius initially highlights this emphasis in the episode of the Argonauts’ departure, when the baby Achilles is watching them, at AR 1.557-5581 σὺν καί οἱ (sc. Chiron) παράκοιτις ἐπωλένιον φορέουσα | Πηλείδην Ἀχιλῆα, φίλωι δειδίσκετο πατρί (“and with him his wife, hold- ing Peleus’ son Achilles in her arms, showed him to his dear father”)2; he does so again in 4.866-879, which describes Thetis and Achilles as a baby. Accordingly, several scholars have focused on the ways in which 1 — On this marker of the generations see also Klooster 2014, 527. 2 — All translations of Apollonius are by Race 2008. EuGeStA - n°9 - 2019 2 ANNETTE HARDER Apollonius has avoided anachronisms by carefully distinguishing between the Argonauts and the heroes of the Trojan War3. More specifically Jacqueline Klooster (2014, 521-530), in discussing the treatment of time in the Argonautica, distinguishes four periods of time to which Apollonius refers: first, the time before the Argo sailed, from the beginning of the cosmos (featured in the song of Orpheus in AR 1.496-511); second, the time of its sailing (i.e. the time of the epic’s setting); third, the past after the Argo sailed and fourth the present inhab- ited by the narrator (both hinted at by numerous allusions and aitia).
    [Show full text]
  • Parthenon 1 Parthenon
    Parthenon 1 Parthenon Parthenon Παρθενών (Greek) The Parthenon Location within Greece Athens central General information Type Greek Temple Architectural style Classical Location Athens, Greece Coordinates 37°58′12.9″N 23°43′20.89″E Current tenants Museum [1] [2] Construction started 447 BC [1] [2] Completed 432 BC Height 13.72 m (45.0 ft) Technical details Size 69.5 by 30.9 m (228 by 101 ft) Other dimensions Cella: 29.8 by 19.2 m (98 by 63 ft) Design and construction Owner Greek government Architect Iktinos, Kallikrates Other designers Phidias (sculptor) The Parthenon (Ancient Greek: Παρθενών) is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Its construction began in 447 BC and was completed in 438 BC, although decorations of the Parthenon continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an Parthenon 2 enduring symbol of Ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure.[3] The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury.
    [Show full text]
  • Caeneus and Heroic (Trans)Masculinity in Ovid's
    Caeneus and Heroic (Trans)Masculinity in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Charlotte Northrop Arethusa, Volume 53, Number 1, Winter 2020, pp. 25-41 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/are.2020.0000 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/762106 [ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] CAENEUS AND HEROIC (TRANS)MASCULINITY IN OVID’S METAMORPHOSES CHARLOTTE NORTHROP Caeneus is a problematic figure among Ovid’s heroes in the Meta- morphoses:1 he aspires to an epic heroism that makes him unique among transgender characters elsewhere in the poem.2 This incongruity forms the basis of the taunts from his centaur opponents. However, instead of just being an aberration among Ovid’s hero characters, Caeneus is actually emblem- atic of the traits that define heroism in the Metamorphoses. Ovid does not shy away from questions of gender identity or generic congruity but makes these questions fundamental to the Caeneus episode and its metatextual relationship with the poem and its poetic tradition. This article argues that Ovid’s treatment of Caeneus is comparable to his treatment of other hero figures, and that his version of Caeneus problematizes the traditional epic relationship between gender identity and genre. Ovid presents a vision of transmasculinity that is innovative when compared with earlier versions of Caeneus and similar mythical figures. His Caeneus narrative is, therefore, a locus for reflection on the nature of heroism within Ovid’s “little Iliad.” To begin, it is necessary to define “transgender” and “transmas- culinity” in terms applicable to Augustan literature.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Epic Fragment on Achilles' Helmet?
    Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 49 (2012) 7-14 A New Epic Fragment on Achilles’ Helmet?1 C. Michael Sampson University of Manitoba Abstract Edition of a small scrap from the Princeton collection containing fragmentary epic hexameters, ascribed to the cyclic Aethiopis of Arctinus or the Little Iliad on the basis of its contents, which most plausibly involve the death of Achilles (with possible echoes of that of Penthesilea). This small fragment from the Princeton collection preserves a lovely slop- ing oval hand whose uncials are roughly bilinear but tiny – typically in the vicinity of 3 mm tall. The uprights of kappa (ll. 5; 11) and iota (ll. 3; 7; 10) are occasionally adorned with a decorative serif, and the loops of omicron and rho are particularly small (a mere 1-1.5 mm), but the hand is otherwise consistent with the “formal mixed” style described by Turner, with narrow epsilon, theta, omicron, and sigma but comparatively wide and squat forms of pi, eta, nu, and mu.2 The label “formal,” however, is not exactly ideal; close parallels are found in the small, rapid hands of the latter half of the second century (occasionally termed “informal” by their editors), to which date and category I would assign this hand as well.3 So broad are the shapes of eta, nu, and pi, in fact, that they 1 I am happy to acknowledge the support of the American Council of Learned So- cieties and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the New Faculty Fellows award under whose auspices this research was undertaken, as well as the cooperation of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • SUMMER 2016 HONORS LATIN III GRADE 11: Title: Roman Blood
    SUMMER 2016 HONORS LATIN III GRADE 11: Title: Roman Blood: A Novel of Ancient Rome Author: Steven Saylor Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur Year: 2000 ISBN: 9780312972967 You will be creating a magazine based on this novel. Be creative. Everything about your magazine should be centered around the theme of the novel. Your magazine must contain the following: Cover Table of Contents One: Crossword puzzle OR Word search OR Cryptogram At least 6 (six) news articles which may consist of character interviews, background on the time period, slave/master relationship, Roman law, etc. It is not necessary to interview Saylor. One of the following: horoscopes (relevant to the novel), cartoons (relevant to the novel), recipes (relevant to the novel), want ads (relevant to the novel), general advertisements for products/services (relevant to the novel). There must be no “white/blank” space in the magazine. It must be laid out and must look like a magazine and not just pages stapled together. This must be typed and neatly done. Due date is first day of school in August. PLEASE NOTE: You will need $25 for membership in the Classical organizations and for participation in three national exams. Due date: September 1, 2016. Thank you. SUMMER 2016 LATIN II GRADE 10: Amsco Workbook: Work on the review sections after verbs, nouns and adjectives. Complete all mastery exercises on pp. 36-39, 59-61, 64-66, 92-95, 102-104. Please be sure to study all relevant vocab in these mastery exercises. Due date is first day of school in August. PLEASE NOTE: You will need $25 for membership in the Classical organizations and for participation in three national exams.
    [Show full text]
  • Trojan War - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Trojan War from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia for the 1997 Film, See Trojan War (Film)
    5/14/2014 Trojan War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojan War From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For the 1997 film, see Trojan War (film). In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen Trojan War from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homer's Iliad. The Iliad relates a part of the last year of the siege of Troy; its sequel, the Odyssey describes Odysseus's journey home. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who (Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC) took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean The war troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris' Setting: Troy (modern Hisarlik, Turkey) insult.
    [Show full text]
  • The Voyage of the Argo and Other Modes of Travel in Apollonius’ Argonautica
    THE VOYAGE OF THE ARGO AND OTHER MODES OF TRAVEL IN APOLLONIUS’ ARGONAUTICA Brian D. McPhee A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Classics. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: William H. Race James J. O’Hara Emily Baragwanath © 2016 Brian D. McPhee ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Brian D. McPhee: The Voyage of the Argo and Other Modes of Travel in Apollonius’ Argonautica (Under the direction of William H. Race) This thesis analyzes the Argo as a vehicle for travel in Apollonius’ Argonautica: its relative strengths and weaknesses and ultimately its function as the poem’s central mythic paradigm. To establish the context for this assessment, the first section surveys other forms of travel in the poem, arranged in a hierarchy of travel proficiency ranging from divine to heroic to ordinary human mobility. The second section then examines the capabilities of the Argo and its crew in depth, concluding that the ship is situated on the edge between heroic and human travel. The third section confirms this finding by considering passages that implicitly compare the Argo with other modes of travel through juxtaposition. The conclusion follows cues from the narrator in proposing to read the Argo as a mythic paradigm for specifically human travel that functions as a metaphor for a universal and timeless human condition. iii parentibus meis “Finis origine pendet.” iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my director and mentor, William Race.
    [Show full text]
  • Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: a Study of the Poem's Ideological Appeal and Reception
    Moore, Gardner Mary (2021) Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: a study of the poem's ideological appeal and reception. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/82148/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Stoic Pietas in the Aeneid: A Study of the Poem’s Ideological Appeal and Reception Gardner Mary Moore M.A., M.Litt., M.Res Submitted for the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy School of Classics College of Arts University of Glasgow March 2021 © Gardner Moore, 22/03/2021 1 Abstract Employing a research method informed by Begriffsgeschichte, this thesis proposes a re- examining of pietas in Virgil’s Aeneid through a Stoic lens. It aims to show how Stoic philosophy underlines the Aeneid and Virgilian pietas. It illustrates how the Aeneid represents a unique intervention in the virtue’s history as a distinctly masculine quality characterised by Stoic submission to fate and suppression of emotion. In the character Aeneas, Virgil shows how philosophical ideas can be transmitted through individuals.
    [Show full text]
  • Highlights from the Plaster Cast Collection
    Fairfield University DigitalCommons@Fairfield Gifts from Athens - Ephemera Gifts From Athens 9-2010 Highlights from the Plaster Cast Collection Katherine Schwab Fairfield University, [email protected] Jill J. Deupi Fairfield University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/gifts-from-athens-ephemera Recommended Citation Schwab, Katherine and Deupi, Jill J., "Highlights from the Plaster Cast Collection" (2010). Gifts from Athens - Ephemera. 1. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/gifts-from-athens-ephemera/1 This item has been accepted for inclusion in DigitalCommons@Fairfield by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It is brought to you by DigitalCommons@Fairfield with permission from the rights- holder(s) and is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Highlights from the Plaster Cast Collection 1 Plaster Casts Technical Notes Plaster casts are replicas of other works of art. While the methods used to create casts vary, most commonly a mould is created by applying plaster of Paris, gelatin, silicone rubber or polyurethane to the original artifact. After the mould dries, it is removed, retaining an impression of the source object on its interior surfaces. Wet plaster is then poured into the resulting cavity. When this is dry, the mould is removed and the new cast is revealed.
    [Show full text]
  • Pindar and Yeats: the Mythopoeic Vision
    Colby Quarterly Volume 24 Issue 4 December Article 3 December 1988 Pindar and Yeats: The Mythopoeic Vision Ann L. Derrickson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq Recommended Citation Colby Library Quarterly, Volume 24, no.4, December 1988, p.176-186 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Quarterly by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. Derrickson: Pindar and Yeats: The Mythopoeic Vision Pindar and Yeats: The Mythopoeic Vision by ANN L. DERRICKSON ROM THE Greece of Pindar to the Ireland of Yeats, 2,300 years canle Fcoursing down the riverbed of history, washing over the widening delta of poetry, leaving layers of political context and literary convention. Yet a shape emerges, despite the shifts of eras and of nations, a form fun­ damental to the lyric. Thinking about the two poets together, then, helps produce an understanding of what is basic to and defines the genre oflyric poetry. Its nature is not specifically a matter of theme but a relationship of reference; action serves to describe spirit. As in Yeats's phrase from "The Circus Animals' Desertion," the prime concern is "Character isolated by a deed." Because it is on this plane of human spirit that meaning distills from the works of Pindar and Yeats, their writing shares the label "lyric." For both poets the vital creative tension exists between a given occasion and its associated images, rather than between concepts of present and past or fact and fantasy.
    [Show full text]