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Preface: Situating Old Norse Mythology in Comparative Contexts, Pernille Hermann, Stephen Mitchell, and Jens Peter Schjødt

Preface: Situating Old Norse Mythology in Comparative Contexts Pernille Hermann, Stephen Mitchell, and Jens Peter Schjødt The essays in this volume are centrally concerned with an all-too-apparent reality about the study of pagan religions in Europe, namely, that the study of any mythology, especially archaic and only haphazardly recorded mythologies, requires careful assessment of sources and the attempt to reconstruct the “system” which is understood to… Read more

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements Publication of this volume was made possible by the generous support of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University, and the Ilex Foundation. The essays in this volume largely derive from presentations at the Aarhus Old Norse Mythology Conference held at Harvard University, 30 October–1 November 2013. The funding for the conference itself was provided by The Royal Gustav Adolf Academy, Uppsala; The Provostial Fund at Harvard University; and… Read more

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Preface

Theocritean Pastoral: A Study in the Definition of Genre* A thesis presented by Amy Edith Johnson to the Department of Comparative Literature in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 1, 1980. For Gregory Nagy and in memory of John H. Finley, Jr. What we have loved,… Read more

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Introduction

Introduction Theocritus (?300-260? B.C.), Hellenistic composer of epillia and idyllia, is uniquely distinguished in the history of Western literature as the identifiable originator of a major genre.      ΑΡΤΕΜΙΔΩΡΟΥ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΟΥἐπὶ τῇ ἀθροἰσει τῶν βουκολικῶν ποιημἀτων Βουκολικαὶ Μοῖσαι σποράδες ποκά, νῦν δ᾽ ἅμα πᾶσαι      ἐντὶ μιᾶς μάνδρας, ἐντὶ μιᾶς ἀγέλας. “The bucolic Muses, once scattered, are now all of one flock,… Read more

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Chapter 1. Idyll I: ΘΥΡΣΙΣ Η ΩΙΔΗ

Chapter 1. Idyll I: ΘΥΡΣΙΣ Η ΩΙΔΗ The measured repetitions of the initial verses of Theocritus’ Idyll I establish a pattern that characterizes bucolic poetry as thoroughly as the herds and herdsmen that are its literal subject. Repeated words and motifs, parallelism of phrasing and of actions, meticulous imitation, emulation, and recapitulation, facilitated by a standard vocabulary and store of fixed metaphors—these elements define the pastoral not… Read more

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Chapter 2. Idyll 7: θΑΛΥΣΙΑ

Chapter 2. Idyll 7: θΑΛΥΣΙΑ If the sweetness of Theocritean pastoral is elaborated in Idyll I, it is in Idyll VII, that its great complementary vision is articulated. Ἁδύ struck the opening and echoing note of I, which in VII is paralleled by the programmatic phrase Ἦς χρόνος; in Gow’s expressive colloquialism, “Time was.” Idyll I is all of the moment, saturated with present sensation and immediacy… Read more

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Conclusion

Conclusion The power, therefore, of thus fully perceiving any natural object depends on our being able to group and fasten all our fancies about it as a centre, making a garland of thoughts for it in which each separate thought is subdued and shortened of its own strength, in order to fit it for harmony with others; the intensity of our enjoyment of the object… Read more

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Select Bibliography

Select Bibliography Allen, T.W., ed. 1912. Homeri Opera V. Oxford. ———, ed. 1917. Homeri Opera III. 2nd ed. Oxford. ———, ed. 1919. Homeri Opera IV. 2nd ed. Oxford. Alpers, P. 1979. The Singer of the Eclogues: A Study of Virgilian Pastoral. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London. ———. 1972. “The Eclogue Tradition… Read more

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements Rhythm Without Beat originally appeared in 2014 as a preliminary study to my thesis Audible Punctuation: Performative Pause in Homeric Prosody, which was defended in 2015. Rhythm Without Beat started from the notion of poetically effective enjambment, and questions the relevance of the verse as the rhythmical, syntactical, and performative unity. It provides arguments and evidence against the widely accepted notion of the single verse as… Read more

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Introduction: Sense, Syntax and Prosody

Introduction: Sense, Syntax and Prosody What exactly did Homer leave behind? Was it a long series of hexameters? Yes and no. In writing, both the Iliad and the Odyssey appear as continuous repetitions of stichic verses. The epic narrative is cast in the hexametric mould: every single line fits one hexameter. The metrical shape of the hexameters varies, but all the verses of the Iliad and the… Read more