Abstract: Chapter 15 Elegy Krystyna Bartol, Krystyna BartolSearch for more papers by this author Krystyna Bartol, Krystyna BartolSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Laura Swift, Laura Swift Open University, Milton Keynes, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 May 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119122661.ch15 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Abstract The distinctive feature of elegy is the meter: the couplet consisting of a dactylic hexameter followed by two hemiepes . Elegies were poems of different length, covering various topics, mostly intended to be sung to the accompaniment of the aulos (a wind instrument) at symposia and at public festivals. Longer narrative elegies were present in the poetic praxis quite early. They incorporated foundation tales (as e.g., Mimnermus' Smyrneis , Xenophanes' The Foundation of Colophon ) or included mythological, perhaps self-standing narratives (like Archilochus' Telephus Elegy) as well as celebrated great historical events (e.g., Simonides' Plataea Elegy). The oldest the elegiac poet of whose work some lines have survived is Callinus. Exhortatory elegiac poems intended to be sung at symposia were composed in Sparta by Tyrtaeus. Elegy of the second part of the fifth and the fourth centuries reflects new trends that appeared in lyric poetry composed in this period. A Companion to Greek Lyric RelatedInformation
Publication Year: 2022
Publication Date: 2022-05-06
Language: en
Type: other
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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