Greek tragic style : form, language, and interpretation / R.B. Rutherford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rutherford, R. B., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek drama--History and criticism.

Greek drama.

Poetics--History--To 1500.

Poetics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 471 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Greek tragedy is widely read and performed, but outside the commentary tradition detailed study of the poetic style and language of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides has been relatively neglected. This book seeks to fill that gap by providing an account of the poetics of the tragic genre. The author describes the varied handling of spoken dialogue and of lyric song; major topics such as vocabulary, rhetoric and imagery are considered in detail and illustrated from a broad range of plays. The contribution of the chorus to the dramas is also discussed. Characterisation, irony and generalising statements are treated in separate chapters and these topics are illuminated by comparisons which show not only what is shared by the three major dramatists but also what distinguishes their practice. The book sheds light both on the genre as a whole and on many particular passages.

Contents:

Genre: form, structure and mode

Words, themes and names

The imagery of Greek tragedy

The dramatists at work: spoken verse

The dramatists at work: lyrics

The characters of Greek tragedy

The irony of Greek tragedy

The wisdom of Greek tragedy.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-41119-5

1-107-22570-1

1-280-68287-6

1-139-42255-3

9786613659811

1-139-41953-6

0-511-84277-5

1-139-42158-1

1-139-41748-7

1-139-42362-2

OCLC:

794663481