Theocritus: A Selection: Idylls 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 13 (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics)
Cambridge University Press, 1/12/2008
EAN 9780521574204, ISBN10: 052157420X
Paperback, 324 pages, 20.3 x 12.7 x 2.1 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
This is the first full-scale commentary on poems by Theocritus since Gow's edition of 1950, and the first to exploit the recent revolution in the study of Hellenistic and Roman poetry; the poems included in this volume (Idylls 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 13) are principally the bucolic poems which, through their influence on Virgil, established the Western pastoral tradition. The focus of the commentary is literary - both on how Theocritus exploited the classical heritage for a new type of poetry, and on what that poetry meant in the third century BC. The commentary, together with the introductory essays to each poem, makes a major contribution to the understanding of this extraordinary poetic form. The Introduction explores the meaning of 'bucolic', the presentation of a stylised countryside, the importance of eros in the bucolic world, and Theocritus' verbal and metrical style.
Introduction
1. Theocritus
2. Bucolic poetry
3. Loci amoeni
4. Metre
5. Language
6. Transmission
Theocritus, a selection
Commentary.
'... rich in brilliant and original ideas ... this is an admirable volume'. EVPHROSYNE