Metapoetry in EuripidesMetapoetry in Euripides is the first detailed study of the self-conscious literary devices applied within Euripidean drama and how these are interwoven with issues of thematic importance, whether social, theological, or political. In the volume, Torrance argues that Euripides employed a complex system of metapoetic strategies in order to draw the audience's attention to the novelty of his compositions. The metapoetic strategies discussed include intertextual allusions to earlier poetic texts (especially to Homer, Aeschylus and Sophocles) which are often developed around unusual and memorable language or imagery, deployment of recognizable trigger words referring to plot construction, novelties or secondary status, and self-conscious references to fiction implied through allusion to writing. Torrance also looks at and compares metapoetic techniques used in tragedy, satyr-drama, and old comedy to demonstrate that the Greek tragedians commonly exploited metapoetic strategies, and that metapoetry is more pervasive in Euripides than in the other tragedians. While Euripides shares some metapoetic techniques with old comedy, these remain implicit in his tragedies (but not in his satyr-dramas). |
Contents
| 1 | |
1 Euripides and the Oresteia | 13 |
2 Intertextual Ekphrasis | 63 |
3 Writing and SelfConscious Mythopo275isis | 135 |
4 The Trojan War | 183 |
5 Tragedy Comedy and Euripides | 267 |
Conclusion | 299 |
Bibliography | 303 |
| 333 | |
| 353 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Achilles Aeschylean Aeschylus Agamemnon allusion Andr Andromache Apollo appropriate argued Aristophanes Athena Athenian audience Aulis Capaneus character chorus Clytemnestra Collard comedy comic context Cratinus Cropp Cyclops death Dionysus discussed draws attention Easterling ekphrasis Electra epic episode Eteocles Eumenides Euripidean drama Euripides evoked example feature fiction fifth-century fragment Greek Tragedy Hecuba Helen Heracles Hermione Hipp Hippolytus Homeric Iliad important intertextual Iphigenia kainos letter Libation Bearers LIMC literary Mastronarde Menelaus metaphor metapoetic metapoetry metatheatrical Mossman motif murder Muses myth mythological Neoptolemus novelty Odysseus Oresteia Orestes Oxford Palamedes parody Parthenopaeus Peleus performance Philoctetes Phoenician Women play play’s plot poet poetic poetry Polynices Polyphemus Pylades recognition scene reference satyr-drama satyrs scholars Seaford seems Segal Seven shield ships Silenus Sommerstein song Sophocles stasimon suggests Supp Taplin Taurians term mythos Thebes thematic Theseus tragedians tragic Trojan Women Troy underlined weaving wine Wright writing Zeitlin Zeus