Academic literature on the topic 'Epic poetry, history and criticism'

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in “New Formalism,” a close attention to textual language and structure that departs from the outdated and regressive stances of old formalisms (especially “New Criticism”) by interrogating the connections between form, history, and culture. This article surveys the contributions of New Formalism to Romanticism studies and applies its techniques to two canonical texts, suggesting that New Formalism is useful both for literary criticism and teaching literature. Opening with a survey of New Formalist theory and practices, and an overview of the theoretical innovations within New Formalism that have been made by Romantic scholars, the article applies New Formalist techniques to William Wordsworth’s Prelude and William Blake’s Milton: a Poem. Often read as poems seeking to escape the dispiriting failure of the French Revolution, these texts, I argue, engage the formal strategies of epic poetry to enter the discourse of the period, offering competing ways to conceive of the self in relation to history. Written during the Romantic epic revival, when more epics were composed than at any other time in history, these poems’ allusive dialogue with Paradise Lost and with the epic tradition more broadly allows them to think through the self’s relationship to the past, a question energized by the Revolution Controversy. I explore how Wordsworth uses allusion to link himself to Milton and ultimately Virgil, both privileging the past and thereby asserting the value of the present as a means of reiterating and restoring it; Blake, in contrast, alludes to Milton to query the very idea of dependence on the past. These readings are intertwined with my experiences of teaching, as I have employed New Formalism to encourage students to develop as writers in response to texts. An emphasis on form provides students with concrete modes of entry into discussing literature and allows instructors to help students identify and revise the forms and structures of their own writing in response to literature.

The traditional problem of Silver Latin poetry, and Silver Latin epic especially, has been its attraction to the extravagant, the grotesque, the infinite, the absurd, in other words, its propensity for excess. Statius'Thebaidin particular has been considered guilty of this offence. Recent criticism, however, has tended to see Silver Latin poetry not simply as being excessive, but as being deeply concerned with excess—cultural, ideological, and poetic. In this paper I hope to demonstrate that such a concern is a prominent characteristic of Statius'Thebaid, by exploring perhaps the most important manifestation of excess in the poem, madness. I will argue that theThebaid's excessiveness is fundamental and necessary, rather than detrimental, to its overall effect. But this paper, like theThebaid, will not concentrate exclusively on excess, for it will prove to be only the starting-point for a specific interpretation of the patterns of action and madness in theThebaid.

In "The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature" on Harvard University out of 131 epic songs recorded from Milovan Vojicic, several are dedicated to the popular theme of the Serbian and Balkan epic - the Kosovo Battle 1389 (Prince Lazar and Milos Obilic, The Defeat of Kosovo, ?he Kosovo Tragedy, The Kosovo Field after the Battle, The Death of Mother Jugovici, The Death of Pavle Orlovic at Kosovo, noted in 1933-34 in Nevesinje). The paper examines Vojicic?s Kosovo songs from the perspective of textual, stylistic and rhetoric criticism, poetics, and memory studies. An analysis of Milovan Vojicic?s Kosovo epic poetry leaves an impression of an active singer who has internalised tradition, and on this foundation composes new works in the traditional manner and "in the folk style". Vojicic is a literate singer who was familiar with the collections of Vuk Karadzic, Bogoljub Petranovic, the Matica Hrvatska, and the songbooks of the time. He did not hesitate to remake or rewrite songs from printed collections or periodicals, which means that his understanding of authorship was in the traditional spirit. Vojicic?s compilations lie on that delicate line between oral traditional and modern literary poetry; he is, naturally, not alone in this double role - the majority of the gusle-players who were his contemporaries could be similarly described. In the body of Kosovo epic poetry Vojicic?s songs stand out (The Death of Pavle Orlovic at Kosovo, The Kosovo Tragedy), where he abandons the printed model and achieves the kind of originality which is in fact part of tradition itself. Vojicic highly valued oral tradition and the opportunity to perform it, as part of the process of creating an image of himself as a folk gusle-player in modern terms. For this reason, his repertoire includes both old and new themes. They are sung according to the epic standard, but also in accordance with the modern standard of epic semi-literary works. In Vojicic?s world, oral tradition is an important component in viewing the historical past, and in perceiving reality and the singer?s place in it. The epic is a form of oral memory and the guardian of remembrance of past events; however it also provides a space for surveying and commenting on modern historical situations in a popularly accepted manner, at times in an ideological key, as seen in songs which gather together major historical events. This perception of the epic tradition and history is mirrored in the heterogeneity of the corpus and in the repertoire of songs, and is all a consequence of vastly changed conditions of origin, existence and acceptance, i.e. the consumption of oral works in the first half of the 20th century, in a process of interaction between literature and folklore.

Although it is now fifteen years since G. Williams' thorough-going criticism of B. Axelson'sUnpoetische Wörter, his discussion has failed to elicit the adverse response which might have been expected in view of the widespread influence exerted by the earlier work.The reason for this may be that Axelson's theory is so widely accepted that any refutation thereof may be disregarded. Yet surely Williams was right to point to the dangers of total reliance on statistics and to the necessity of considering the contexts in which words occur in Latin poetry. In this respect, he was not so much rejecting Axelson's work as pointing to its inadequacies: whereas Axelson would be content to label a word that occurs only rarely in poetry as ‘unpoetisch’, it is necessary, as Williams demonstrates, to take the further step of determining the effect that such a word has in a given context. This approach will be particularly helpful, for example, in the case ofparvulusat Virg.Aen.4.328, where the heightened pathos achieved by Virgil's use of a diminutive is better appreciated by the reader who is aware of the scarcity of diminutive adjectives in poetry and in epic above all. To recogniseparvulusas an ‘unpoetic word’, with Axelson, is the essential first step, but we should proceed a stage further to inquire what effect was intended by the employment of a form not normally found in elevated poetry.Of greater importance is Williams' rejection of the ‘hierarchy of genres’ theory, taken for granted by Axelson, that is, that Latin poetry may be divided into a number of higher- or lower-ranking genres and that the more elevated a genre the less unpoetic vocabulary it is liable to employ.

The aim of the article is to characterize representations of the history and historicalcultural heritage of the Buryats in the pages of the Sibirskie Ogni journal from the early 1920s to the late 1980s in the context of state memory politics. The methodological framework of the study was the field of “Memory Studies.” Conclusions were drawn about the intense ideologization of the historical past of the Buryats on the pages of the Sibirskie Ogni journal at all stages of the Soviet period, as well as the journal's disregard for Buryat heritage associated with the traditions of Buddhist East. Six stages of representation were identified. In the first stage (1920s), Buryat authors freely wrote in the journal about Buryat history, expressed historical grievances against Russia, and sought recognition of the value of Buryat historical-cultural heritage. In the second stage (1930s), only articles by Russian authors about Buryat history in a critical tone were published in the journal. In the third stage (1940s-1950s), Sibirskie Ogni journal printed articles with crushing criticism of inconvenient versions of Buryat history presented in national literature. In the fourth stage (1960s-1970s), Buryat history was not discussed at all in the journal. In the fifth stage (1980s), a flourishing of Buryat culture was proclaimed under the influence of Soviet leadership. After the collapse of the USSR, much was rethought and perceived as a historical mistake. The Sibirskie Ogni journal began publishing articles again on Buryat literary traditions, epic poetry, etc.

Muse of the uniqueHistorical fact, defending with silenceSome world of yours beholding, a silenceNo explosion can conquer, but a lover's yesHas been known to fill.W. H. Auden, ‘Homage to Clio’The Clio and Calliope evoked in the prohemia of Books II and III of Troilus and Criseyde are handily glossed in Chaucer editions as Muses of history and epic poetry respectively, but without citations of sources for these attributions. Stephen A. Barney's notes in The Riverside Chaucer suggest that in both evocations Chaucer is following Statius rather than Dante, and both he and B. A. Windeatt mention the marginal gloss ‘Cleo domina eloquentie’ in MS Harley 2392 of Troilus. Vincent J. DiMarco's note to the name Polymya in Anelida and Arcite identifies her as Muse of ‘sacred song,’ after her name-sense ‘she who is rich in hymns,’ but DiMarco does not elaborate on her pertinence to the context of the poem. There is little in current Chaucer criticism on schemes of attributes for the Muses; and yet without an idea of what values for the Muses Chaucer is drawing upon, it is difficult to appreciate their thematic force in Troilus.

Abstract In De magistratibus John Lydus refers to an epigram of eight lines insulting emperor Anastasius (491-518) as a money-collecting Charybdis. A similar version of this poem can be found in the Greek Anthology where it is divided into two epigrams of four lines each (AP XI 270 -71). In a first step, a critical edition of the epigram is established. On this basis it becomes clear that the earlier version referred to by Lydus comes close to the original poem. A detailed commentary reveals it as work of an able and witty poet who was familiar with both classical epic poetry and the formulas used in late antique laudatory epigrams. Looking at the historical background of the epigram, the paper highlights the history and varieties of Kaiserkritik in Late Antiquity and Byzantium, while another chapter takes a closer look at the far-reaching reforms undertaken by Anastasius which were heavily criticized by contemporaries. Taking into account the function of the epigram in Lydus’ work, it seems certain that John Lydus himself composed the poem to support his general criticism of the administrative reforms of both Anastasius and Justinian.

Philip Sidney was a famous courtier, soldier, poet and patron in Elizabethan England. As the best work of literary criticism in the English Renaissance, Sidney’s <i>The Defense of Poesy</i> not only contains rich poetic, philosophical and aesthetic values, but also permeates with comments and suggestions on current politics, implying advanced ideas of statecraft. Studying <i>The Defense of Poesy</i> in the context of social, political and cultural anxiety in England in the late 1570s and early 1580s, this article attempts to reveal Sidney’s creative motive and governing ideology. The adherence to ethical values shows his belief in “building the state with political virtue”; the praise of the heroic epic reveals the determination to “protect the state with military force”; the prospect of national poetics presents the vision of “strengthening the state with national culture”. Sidney reinterpreted the function of poetry and the responsibility of poets at the time of national crisis. Discussing politics in the name of poetry, Sidney expressed his efforts to create a political poetics aiming to serve the state, and demonstrated the beautiful political vision of building a “golden world” of heroic, solidary, independent, and united England. Throughout his life, Sidney turned the ideas of statecraft into an act of serving the country. After his early death in battle, he was hailed as the cultural icon and national hero of England.

The article notes that critics of the Ukrainian diaspora emphasized the significance of the works of the „Lanka”-MARS authors, considered the main strategies of their work, and determined the connection of the works with the world literary tradition. Lavrinenko's anthology „The Executed Renaissance” allows us to understand the specifics of the history of Ukrainian literature of the 1920s and 1930s. Yu. Lavrinenko represented articles about the works of B. Antonenko-Davydovych, G. Kosynka, T. Osmachka, E. Pluzhnyk, V. Pidmohylny, and D. Falkivsky, which testify to the specifics of Yu. Lavrinenko's reception. The critic called love the main characteristic of T. Osmachka's poems. Yu. Lavrineno emphasized that D. Falkivsky's poetry is characterized by simplicity and naturalness. The article defines that the critic, characterizing the poetic texts of E. Pluzhnyk, emphasizes the principles of his poetics that represent acmeistic traditions. Yu. Lavrinenko focuses on determining the main principles of V. Pidmohylny's works. The article states that Yu. Lavrinenko calls G. Kosynka a talented author of his time, in his skill the writer stands next to M. Khvylov and V. Pidmohylny, his epic works reveal a synthesis of lyricism and brutal metaphor. B. Antonenko-Davidovych's story „Death” is represented by the critic of the Ukrainian diaspora as a confrontation between man, personality and the Communist Party. The article considers the reception of Yu. Sherekh by V. Pidmohylny and T. Osmachka. The critic reveals the deep meaning of V. Pidmohylny's novel „City”, which allows the modern reader to read the work from a different angle, to see new aspects of the artistic world of the text. The article examines the strategies of interpretation of the works of T. Osmachka. Yu. Sherekh called the Ukrainian poet one of the best modern authors, saw his connection with the world tradition, with the works of D. Byron and O. Pushkin.

In their introduction to the recent excellent volume Plato & Hesiod, the editors G.R. Boys-Stones and J.H. Haubold observe that when we think about the problematic relationship between Plato and the poets, we tend to narrow this down to that between Plato and Homer. Hesiod is practically ignored. Unjustly so, the editors argue. Hesiod provides a good opportunity to start thinking more broadly about Plato's interaction with poets and poetry, not in the least because the ‘second poet’ of Greece represents a different type of poetry from Homer's heroic epics, that of didactic poetry. What goes for Plato and Hesiod goes for Proclus and Hesiod. Proclus (a.d. 410/12–85), the productive head of the Neoplatonic school in Athens, took a great interest in poetry to which he was far more positively disposed than Plato had ever been. He wrote, for example, two lengthy treatises in reaction to Socrates' devastating criticism of poetry in the Republic as part of his commentary on that work in which he tries to keep the poets within the Platonic pale. This intriguing aspect of Proclus' thought has, as one might expect, not failed to attract scholarly attention. In Proclus' case too, however, discussions tend to concentrate on his attitude towards Homer (one need only think here of Robert Lamberton's stimulating book Homer the Theologian). To some extent this is only to be expected, since much of the discussion in the Commentary on the Republic centres on passages from Homer. Proclus did not, however, disregard Hesiod: we still possess his scholia on the Works and Days, now available in a recent edition by Patrizia Marzillo.