TH 1:00-2:00, F 1:00-2:00 and by Appointment

Allen Romano

250-252G

Office Hours:

TH 1:00-2:00, F 1:00-2:00 and by appointment

Pain and Poetry

3rd Year Greek, Spring Quarter: Hellenistic Poetry

CL-113; MWF 12:00

Synopsis:

The course will focus on poetry of the Hellenistic period (323 BC – 31 BC). The goals are threefold:

1. Exposure to a significant period of Greek literary history: To echo a traditional assessment on the period: “Thus a novel conception of poetry . . . led to the way to a revival of poetry as well as to a new treatment of the ancient poetical texts” (Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship). Though the aims and assumptions underlying this course are very different from Pfeiffer’s, his assessment is a reasonable starting point. What distinguishes this poetry from poetry before and after it? How did the massive historical changes in the wake of Alexander the Great change the literary landscape. A variety of factors made the Hellenistic period something of a poetic bottleneck. The poets and poetry of the period determined not only how Greek literary traditions were passed to Roman poets, but also how Greek literature has survived up to this day. Thus knowledge of Hellenistic poetry is often essential both for reading Roman poetry and for understanding pre-Hellenistic Greek literature.
2. Improve technical skills: Poetry of this period can be difficult. Many poets delight in rare and unusual words; allusions can be, well, elusive; dialects blend together; the texts themselves often remain only in fragmentary form.
3. Aesthetics: It’s fun poetry. Seriously.

Readings have been chosen to demonstrate the variety of Hellenistic poetry through a single theme: pain and suffering. Over the span of the quarter this theme will include love-sickness, real physical pain, and inflicting pain on others through insult. The pain theme provides the best range of texts for the purposes of this course; however, it also avoids the most common path when teaching literature of the Hellenistic period. That is, restricting a course to literature of one historical period implies that the questions of literary history (genre, authorship, etc.) supersede everything else. For Hellenistic poetry in particular the problem is acute: the common picture of Hellenistic “scholar-poets” (i.e. Callimachus, Apollonius and company) makes it tempting to construct a course as a survey of all the programmatic, self-referential, or otherwise paradigmatic passages. Here, the choice of a theme cut-off from the motif of the “scholar-poet” is designed to work against this trend.

We will explore the modern scholarly debates by looking at issues of performance and tone. Problems in reading Hellenistic poetry always seem to stem from the question “What is the tone of this poetry?”. Is a particular poem funny? Serious? Artistic? Scholarly? All of the above? Was it performed? What would it matter if it was? Together with the pain theme, questions about performance and tone will be the backbone of the course.

Books:

Clack, J. Asclepiades of Samos and Leonidas of Tarentum: The Poems

Dover, K. Theocritus: Select Poems

Hopkinson, N. A Hellenistic Anthology

(handouts and photocopies for readings not in these three books)

Coursework and Grades:

Assignments consist primarily of translations from the Greek. Additional readings in English are designed to increase your understanding of the material and to facilitate class discussion of the Greek selections. In addition, there will be three short translation quizzes covering the material immediately preceding the date of the quiz. Two of these quizzes have been scheduled during the quarter. The third takes the place of the final exam. A short writing assignment will be due before the end of the quarter. Thus grades (for those interested in such things) will be calculated as follows:

50% class participation

30% quizzes (i.e. 10% each)

20% written assignment

Writing Assignment: Textual Depths

Take any five lines from a bit of poetry that interests you and find out everything you can about those five lines. Write up your findings and hand it in before the end of the quarter. Your analysis should contain the following:

1. Translation of your lines: Be as prosaic or poetic as you like.
2. Metrical Analysis: Scan the lines and identify the meter.
3. Textual Criticism: Look in the apparatus, compare different printed editions, and report the problems in the textual history. How do different editions print the text? Try to explain the significance of any deviations. Are there textual problems for which emendations have been suggested? What are the relative merits of the different proposed emendations?
4. Linguistic Analysis: Explore the “semantic field” for the words in your passage. What do other occurrences of these words tell you about the poem? Are there significant parallels in language elsewhere in Greek literature?
5. Thematic Analysis: What themes does this passage seem to be dealing with? How would those themes relate to the rest of the poem? Do they relate to other poems which we have read in class?
6. Commentary: Look at both modern and (if it exists for your passage) ancient commentaries on your lines. What do they find interesting or remarkable about these lines?
7. Additional Comments: Are there any features of these lines which have not been commented upon enough? What would you add to the scholarly discussion of these lines.

An effective discussion of these issues should take at least 5 pages but will probably not require more than 15. Take as much or as little space as you need to answer the questions posed above.

In Greek

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In English

Week 1

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Introduction: Hellenistic Period and Epigrams

Wednesday 4/4 / The Basics / For future reference: poet list etc.
Friday 4/6 / The Epigram Genre:
Meleager 12.257 (AP)
Epigrams on Poets:
Leonidas 58, 93, 98 (Clack)
Asclepiades 28, 32 (Clack)
Theocritus epigrams 19 and 21 (Dover) / Handout including:
Meleager Proem, Meleager 7.417
Asclepiades 9.64
Leonidas 9.24, 9.25, Pl. 306 Callimachus 7.80
Lightfoot, J. ‘Sophisticates and solecisms: Greek Literature after the classical period’

Week 2

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Epigrams: The Sickness of Love and Not Feelin’ So Good

Monday 4/9 / Callimachus 1.30 (28 PF)
Asclepiades: 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 (Clack) / Clack: Introduction;
AP 5
Wednesday 4/11 / Asclepiades 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 42 (Clack)
Leonidas 92 (Clack)
Friday 4/13 / Leonidas: 37, 56, 72, 77 (Clack) / AP 7

Week 3

/ Theocritus: Simaetha’s Love-Sickness (Idyll 2 )
Monday 4/16 / 2.1-63 (Hopkinson X, Dover) / Dover Introduction
Wednesday 4/18 / 2.64-111 / Theocritus Idylls 3 and 14
Friday 4/20 / 2.112-166

Week 4

/ Theocritus: Polyphemus’ Lament (Idyll 11)
Monday 4/23 / Theocritus 11.1-49 (Hopkinson IX, Dover) / Theocritus Idylls 6 and 13
Wednesday 4/25 / Theocritus 11.50-81
Friday 4/27 / Quiz

Week 5

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Callimachus’ Aetia: Acontius and Cydippe

Monday 4/30 / 1-14; intervening fragments; 1-27 (Hopkinson II) / Hopkinson: Introduction
Wednesday 5/2 / 28-52
Friday 5/4 / 53-77

Week 6

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Callimachus’ Hymns: Tiresias Blinded (Hymn 5 – Bath of Pallas)

Monday 5/7 / 1-56 (Hopkinson III) / Callimachus Hymn 2
Wednesday 5/9 / 57-118 / Bion Lament for Adonis
Friday 5/11 / 119-142

Week 7

/ Nicander and Callimachus: From Use of Poison to Poisonous Abuse
Monday 5/14 / Nicander Theriaca 334-58 (Hopkinson VIII) / Nicander Theriaca
Wednesday 5/16 / Iamb 1 (Pfeiffer) / Iambs 4 and 13
Friday 5/18 / Quiz

Week 8

/ Callimachus’ Aetia: Kids, Geezers, Inspiration, and Little Poems
Monday 5/21 / Aetia fr. 1 (Hopkinson I)
Wednesday 5/23 / Aetia fr. 1
Friday 5/25 / Aetia fr. 2 and fr 112 (Pfeiffer) / Hesiod

Week 9

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Herodas: A Good Whacking (Mimiamb 3)

Wednesday 5/30 / Mimiamb 3.1-58 (Cunningham) / Mimiambs 1, 6, 8
Friday 6/1 / Mimiamb 3.59-97

Week 10

/ Everything Else
Monday 6/4 / Quiz
Wednesday 6/6 / Review / Reader’s Choice

Final Exam: June 13, 2001. 8:30 – 11:30 AM (!!!)