Book description
The victory poems of the Greek lyric poet Bacchylides are here
presented in a fresh new translation, together with an introduction and
commentary. The translation captures the tone of the original, combining the
joy of the occasion with the ever-present serious moral undertones, while
the introduction sets the poems in their social and religious context,
detailing the connection between competition and religious festival. The
introduction also discusses the rise of the victory poem as a genre, and the
way in which the poems were used by both client and poet as an avenue to
immortality.
The commentary on the translation, designed primarily for non-language
students, is full and detailed; it provides extensive background and
explanatory information to enable students to appreciate the poems more
fully, while broader issues are also discussed, such as the integration of
the mythic narratives and their relevance to the poet’s purposes, as well as
the structural, thematic and poetic qualities of the poems. This new
commentary will allow the poems of Bacchylides to be more widely read,
enjoyed and appreciated, as they deserve.
About the author
Arthur McDevitt was Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Classical Studies, Monash University and is now retired.
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