Metrical Constraint And The Interpretation Of Style In The Tragic Trimeter
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Metrical Constraint and the Interpretation of Style in the Tragic Trimeter
Author: Nicholas Baechle
language: en
Publisher: Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Release Date: 2007
Metrical Constraint and the Interpretation of Style in the Tragic Trimeter is an interpretation of the choices the Greek tragedians made in regard to certain forms of standardized variations in word order and prosody. Dr. Nicholas Baechle demonstrates that in their compositional practice the tragedians collectively decided to use certain prosodic variations to fit metrically intractable words and phrases. This book is grounded in metrical constraint and the mechanics of trimester composition, but also extends to a greater understanding of the stylistic sensibilities of the tragedians and of their feeling for the generic ethos of tragic dialogue. By means of comparisons with Aristophanes' general practice, and with paratragic imitations of tragic style, the distinctiveness of the style of tragic dialogue versus the rendition of speech in comedy is made clear. Metrical Constraint and the Interpretation of Style in the Tragic Trimeter offers a critical and sophisticated perspective on Greek drama that will appeal to anyone interested in language and classical studies.
Metrical Constraint and the Interpretation of Style in the Tragic Trimeter
This study is an interpretation of the choices the tragedians made in regard to certain forms of standardized variations in word order and prosody. Those choices were made in response to the competing demands of metrical constrain and the poets' sense of what was stylistically appropriate for tragic trimeters.
Word Order in Greek Tragic Dialogue
Helma Dik approaches word order in Greek tragic dialogue from the perspective of language rather than metre. The tragic poets engaged in mimesis of natural dialogue; therefore the analysis of the linguistic characteristics of the dialogue precedes exploration of the metrical dimension, on the assumption that poets would not be overly constrained by the iambic trimeter, which, after all, was the most natural speaking verse according to Aristotle. Dik analyses the word order of tragic dialogue in pragmatic terms, arguing that, in sentences, words functioning as Topic (the 'starting point' of an utterance) or Focus (the most salient piece of information) will come early, and that other less important words will follow. Similarly, the position of adjectives within noun phrases is analysed as a function of their relative salience rather than in terms of their semantics. This approach aims to account for word order in sentences generally, but it also allows for a new interpretation of familiar phenomena in Greek, such as 'postponed interrogatives'. The book concludes with a commentary on the word order in four passages of Sophocles' Electra.