AeschylusAeschylus can be called the creator of the art of tragedy in the Western tradition. Author of the first dramas that have survived in their entirety, he was also one of the world's greatest lyric and imaginative poets. This book by John Herington is designed to introduce all aspects of his majestic achievement to the general reader. Herington begins by sketching the background to Aeschylus' plays. He first explains the very ancient mythical conception of our universe in which Aeschylus was brought up and which continued to shape his dramaturgy and poetic expression throughout his career. Herington next discusses Athens and the momentous transition that it was experiencing during Aeschylus' later years: the transition from age-old traditional ways of life and thought to the Periclean Enlightenment. The background material concludes with a description of the contemporary Athenian theater, which also was undergoing a crucial transition from a primarily choral performance toward an art that could be described as drama. In the second half of the book, Herington focuses on the plays of Aeschylus, providing many illustrative quotations that he himself has translated. There is a chapter on the poetry of the lost plays as they are revealed in ancient quotations and descriptions. There are then expositions of the seven extant tragedies, all of which were produced in the period between 472 B.C. and Aeschylus' death in 456. Each play is presented to the reader not so much in summary as in vivid scenario, with concentration on the climactic points at which Aeschylus orchestrated all his poetic, histrionic, musical, and choreographic resources. Herington suggests that the sequence of the extant plays as a whole constitutes a commentary by this very great poet on the intellectual, political, and religious upheaval taking place in Athens during his last years, and that therein lies part of the endless fascination of the plays. |
Contents
THE WORLDVISION | 5 |
THE POET IN HIS TIME | 15 |
THE POET IN HIS THEATER | 32 |
THE POETRY OF THE FRAGMENTARY PLAYS | 45 |
GENERAL | 61 |
THE ANCIENT UNIVERSE | 67 |
NOMANSLAND OF DARK AND LIGHT | 94 |
Common terms and phrases
Achilles action Aegisthus Aegyptus Aeschy Aeschylean drama Aeschylus Agamemnon Amphiaraus Apollo appear archaic Areopagus Argos aspect Athenian Athens Attic tragedy audience century chant character choral Chorus Chorus's chylus classical Clytaemnestra context cosmos Danaids Danaus dance Darius dead Delphi Dionysia divine Earth Electra enemy entire Eteocles Eumenides extant plays eyes fact father female final fragments Furies gods Greece Homer human imagery imagination instance justice king Laius later least legend Libation-Bearers lines lost plays lyric male ment Messenger modern murder myth Oedipus Olympian opening orchestra Oresteia Orestes palace passage perhaps Persians plays of Aeschylus poet political powers Prometheia Prometheus Bound Prometheus Pyrphoros reader satyr-play satyrs scene seems sense Seven Against Thebes singing song Sophocles speech stage story Suppliants surviving symbol Table of Dates tetralogy theater Theban theme tomb tragedians tragic translations trilogy Troy universe verbal poetry vision visual women words Xerxes Zeus Zeus's