Homeric Diction in Posidippus
Item
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Title
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Homeric Diction in Posidippus
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:2c3e742e1a0b:12004
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identifier
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12682
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Creator
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Williams, Maura Kathleen,
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Contributor
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Dee L. Clayman
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Classical studies | Classical literature | Epigram | Posidippus
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Abstract
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This dissertation is a study of the use of Homeric diction in the epigrams of Posidippus of Pella. I place the poetry in the context of the aesthetic and scholarly interests of Ptolemaic Alexandria and I provide a stylistic and intertextual analysis of the use of Homer in these 3rd century BCE epigrams. In the subgenres of amatory and sepulchral epigrams, the repetition of Homeric diction in combination with particular topoi and themes in the poems of Posidippus and other epigrammatists becomes a literary trope. In other cases, Posidippus incorporates more complex thematic allusion to Homer and, by doing so, displays awareness of the self-reflexive and self-annotating experience of reading poetry. The repetition of Homeric diction within sections of the Milan papyrus reinforces arguments for cohesive structure within the lambdaiotathetaiotakappa a&d12; and oiotaonuosigmakappaopiiotakappa a&d12; sections. What this study of Homeric diction reveals is that Posidippus' choice of topoi and themes are distinguished by the way he incorporates Homeric references and thematic allusion. Other poets share his topoi and his themes and sometimes even his Homeric diction, but these three elements rarely match the complexity in Posidippus. The combinations are what differentiate Posidippus' stylistic tendences from other Hellenistic epigrammatists.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Classics
