The jeweled style : poetry and poetics in late antiquity / Michael Roberts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roberts, Michael, 1947 September 16-

Series:

Cornell paperbacks

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latin poetry--History and criticism.

Latin poetry.

Latin language--Metrics and rhythmics.

Latin language.

Christian poetry, Latin--History and criticism.

Christian poetry, Latin.

Christianity and literature--Rome.

Christianity and literature.

Latin language--Style.

Rome--In literature.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Physical Description:

xiii, 182 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2010.

Summary:

In The Jeweled Style, Michael Roberts offers a new approach to the Latin poetry of late antiquity, one centering on an aesthetic quality common to both the literature and the art of the period--the polychrome patterning of words and phrases or of colors and shapes. In Roberts's view, the writer or artist of this period works as a jeweler, carefully setting compositional units in a geometric framework, consistently demonstrating a preference for effects of patterning over realistic representation, and for a unity situated at a higher level than the literal, historical sequence of the narrative. Roberts's introductory chapter is followed by an anthology of representative narrative and descriptive poetry from the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Next, Roberts traces the use of "jewels" as a literary metaphor from the first century A.D. to late antiquity. He then compares the works of late antique literature to wall and floor mosaics, ivory diptychs, Christian sarcophagi, and contemporary styles of dress. Emphasizing that the poetry of this period is not uniform, he differentiates the main genres of Christian narrative poetry--biblical and hagiographical epic--from secular examples of the jeweled style, such as the poetry of Ausonius and Sidonius. Roberts concludes by examining the influence of late antique aesthetics on the medieval poetics of Matthew of Vendôme and Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Elegantly written and augmented by twenty-three illustration, The Jeweled Style will be welcomed by many readers, including Latinists and other classicists, medievalists and Renaissance scholars specializing in literature, Byzantinists, and art historians.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 160-171) and indexes.

ISBN:

080147633X

9780801476334

OCLC:

505157720

Publisher Number:

99941982729