The Poetics of Imitation: Anacreon and the Anacreontic Tradition - Softcover

Rosenmeyer, Patricia A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521028981 ISBN 13: 9780521028981

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Western literature knows the anacreontic poems best in the translations or adaptations of such poets as Ronsard, Herrick and Goethe. This collection of poems, once assumed to be the work of Anacreon himself, was considered unworthy of serious attention after the poems were proved to be late Hellenistic and early Roman imitations by anonymous writers. This full-length treatment of the anacreontic corpus, first published in 1992, explores the complex poetics of imitation which inspired anacreontic composition for so many centuries in antiquity. The author reassesses Anacreon's own oeuvre, and then discusses the system of selective imitation practised by the anacreontic poets. The book explores what light the corpus can shed on ancient literary genres, intertextual influences, and the literary manifestations of symposiastic and erotic ideals in a post-classical society which looks back to an archaic model as its guiding force.A full translation of the anacreontic collection is included as an appendix and all Greek and Latin is translated.

About this title

Review

"Rosenmeyer's comprehensive and illuminating discussion helps to show why and how these diverse poems had such a long-lasting appeal and were widely imitated in other European languages." Choice

"...a fascinating account of the first edition of the Anareontea by Stephanus in 1554 and its reception....I have learned much from this book and I commend it highly." Douglas E. Gerber, Classical World

"An excellent presentation of an interesting but neglected subject, this work should prove invaluable to students of the classics and Western European literature." Antonía Tripolitis, Religious Studies Review

Book Description

This collection of poems, once thought to be the work of the archaic Greek poet Anacreon, was considered unworthy of attention when revealed to be late Hellenistic and early Roman imitations by anonymous writers. This 1992 book explores the complex poetics of imitation which inspired anacreontic composition for so many centuries in antiquity. A full translation is included as an appendix.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521028981
• ISBN 13: 9780521028981
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304