Greek Tragic Style

Form, Language and Interpretation

R. B. Rutherford

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780521848909
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139415330
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• GREEK TRAGIC STYLE: Form, Language and Interpretation
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Note on texts
• CHAPTER 1 Introduction
• CHAPTER 2 Genre: form, structure and mode
• CHAPTER 3 Words, themes and names
• CHAPTER 4 The imagery of Greek tragedy
• CHAPTER 5 The dramatists at work: spoken verse
• CHAPTER 6 The dramatists at work: lyrics
• CHAPTER 7 The characters of Greek tragedy
• CHAPTER 8 The irony of Greek tragedy
• CHAPTER 9 The wisdom of Greek tragedy
• CHAPTER 10 Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Select index of Greek words
• Index of topics
• Index of passages cited