Laura Swift
Biographic Data
| ID | 5628116 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Laura Swift |
| GIVEN NAMES | Laura |
| FAMILY NAME | Swift |
| SIGNATURE | SWIFT L |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Open University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3745-3500 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 39 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Texts and Intertexts in Archaic and Classical Greece
Encompassing the period from the earliest archaic epics down through classical Athenian drama, this is the first concerted, step-by-step examination of the development of allusive poetics in the early Greek world. Recent decades have seen a marked rise in intertextual approaches to early Greek literature; as scholars increasingly agree on the need to read these texts in a comparative way, this only makes all the more urgent the question of how be…
A Companion to Greek Lyric
Companion to Greek Lyric
Valerie Traub, Thinking sex with the early moderns
What does it mean to think sex, and how does that differ from thinking with, or thinking about, sex? In Thinking Sex with the Early Moderns, the question of studying sex in history is inseparable f
Poetics and Precedents in Archilochus’ Erotic Imagery
This chapter explores Archilochus’ imagery and its relationship to his poetic precedents. It argues that Archilochus’ use of imagery is highly creative, and that he reworks conventional motifs in a way which undercuts their usual role in the poetic tradition. The paper investigates this theme with particular reference to the imagery of nature, which is a recurrent theme both in Archilochus’ erotic iamboi and in the wider archaic Greek tradition. …
Medea
Euripides’ Medea remains one of the most abidingly powerful of all Greek tragedies; its themes of love, jealousy, vengeance, and infanticide continue to enthral audiences more than two thousand years after it was first produced. Unlike many of Euripides’ plays, Medea is dominated by a single character, the eponymous heroine, and the debates which have surrounded the play often arise from the question of how we should respond to this complex prota…
Visual Imagery in Parthenaic Song
This chapter explores the use of visual imagery in parthenaic song, and argues that it is a distinctive feature of the genre. The chapter examines visual imagery in the surviving partheneia (Alcman PMGF 1, 3, Pindar fr. 94b S.-M.) and contrasts this with the type of self-referentiality we find in choral lyric performed by male singers. While the identity of the singers is important to various types of lyric, it is only in partheneia that we find …
Iambus and Elegy
The study of early Greek poetry has undergone a renaissance in recent decades. But the lion’s share of interest has been devoted to melic poetry. The other small-scale poetic forms, iambus and elegy, have been relegated to a lesser position in modern scholarship. However, iambus and elegy were very important in their own right within the performance culture of archaic Greece. They outlived lyric and were also very significant for the development …
Stesichorus on stage
While scholars generally agree that Stesichorus was important to the tragedians, studies of the relationship focus on the broad shaping of the plot or stylistic devices, and suggest little detailed engagement at a textual level. This chapter argues that we can go further, notwithstanding the fragmentary state of Stesichorus' poetry. It focuses on Stesichorus' Oresteia and Thebais, and argues that we find intertextuality in all three tragedians an…
Negotiating Seduction
This article offers a new interpretation of Archilochus’ First Cologne Epode (fr. 196a W) by reading it as a sustained travesty of an epic seduction scene. The article begins by setting out the flexibility of the epic type-scene, with an analysis of the Dios Apate in Iliad 14, Aphrodite’s seduction of Anchises in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, and Odysseus’ encounter with Nausicaa in Odyssey 6. The second part of the article demonstrates that the…
The Lyric of Ibycus
Reviewed by: The Lyric of Ibycus: Introduction, Texts and Commentary by Claire Louise Wilkinson Laura Swift Claire Louise Wilkinson . The Lyric of Ibycus: Introduction, Texts and Commentary. Sozomena, 13. Berlin : de Gruyter , 2013 . Pp. x, 318 . €154.00 . ISBN 978–3-11–029514–6 . This book, a revised version of the author’s doctoral thesis, offers us a commentary on “those fragments which offer the greatest scope for an analysis of Ibycus as a w…
Telephus on Paros
In recent years, our understanding of Archilochus has been transformed by the discovery of a major new fragment from the Oxyrhynchus collection ( P Oxy. 4708), first published by Dirk Obbink. The new poem is not only the most substantial of Archilochus' elegiac fragments, but more importantly it is the first example we have of the poet's use of myth, for the surviving section narrates a mythological theme: the defeat of the Achaeans at the hands …
Conflicting identities in the Euripidean chorus
This chapter investigates the topic of choral identity and how this is used by the tragedians. Unlike the tragic characters, the chorus’ identity is never fixed but is the free choice of the poet, and for this reason the choice of chorus profoundly influences the telling of the myth and the presentation of the characters within it. Yet choral identity does not always fall into a straightforward category; rather, choruses are presented as possessi…
Choral Mediations in Greek Tragedy
This volume explores how the choruses of Greek tragedy creatively combined media and discourses to generate their own specific forms of meaning. The contributors analyse choruses as fictional, religious and civic performers; as combinations of text, song and dance; and as objects of reflection in themselves, in relation and contrast to the choruses of comedy and melic poetry. Drawing on earlier analyses of the social context of Greek drama, the n…
Hymenaios
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes hymenaios. The chapter begins with a discussion of the role that choral song played in the Greek wedding, and a discussion of Sappho's hymenaioi and poetry by other authors which imitated hymenaeal forms. The second part of the chapter looks at how tragedy makes use of hymenaios, including the so‐called ‘marriage‐to‐death’ motif, whereby a young girl's death is described as a form of marriage. The ch…
Lyric Poetry in an Athenian Context
This chapter discusses the role that choral performance and lyric poetry held in fifth‐century Athenian life. It begins by examining the evidence for choral performance in Athens, and goes on to discuss how lyric poetry was known and circulated. Since many ‘high’ forms of poetry were known by elite means, this leads to a discussion of elite poetic material in democratic society, looking at the institution of the symposium and deriving evidence fr…
Understanding Lyric Genres
This chapter discusses the methodological difficulties of defining Greek lyric genres and sets out a methodology for understanding lyric genres, influenced by contemporary genre‐theory and by the works of Wittgenstein. It argues for a functionally driven approach to lyric, deriving from the poetry's performance context, and suggests that genres should be understood as functional cores around which conventional features accumulate. The chapter als…
Thrēnos and Ritual Lament
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes Thrēnos and other forms of ritual funerary song. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Greek ritual lament, and seeks continuities between the various forms such as women's lament, Thrēnos, funerary epigram. It also discusses the role that funerary legislation played in changing the nature of funeral song, and the effect that this would have had on a fifth‐century audience's understanding of ri…
The Hidden Chorus
Choral performance permeated Greek life on every level, from private weddings and funerals to large‐scale religious festivals, yet the relationship between these ritual choruses and the better known choruses of tragedy has never been systematically examined. This book represents the first detailed study of the interaction between tragic and lyric choral song. It aims to enrich our understanding of the socio‐cultural position of both tragedy and l…
The Symbolism of Space in Euripidean Choral Fantasy ( Hipp . 732–75, Med . 824–65, Bacch . 370–433)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
How to Make a Goddess Angry
The Hidden Chorus
Choral performance permeated Greek life on every level, from private weddings and funerals to large‐scale religious festivals, yet the relationship between these ritual choruses and the better known choruses of tragedy has never been systematically examined. This book represents the first detailed study of the interaction between tragic and lyric choral song. It aims to enrich our understanding of the socio‐cultural position of both tragedy and l…
Negotiating Seduction
This article offers a new interpretation of Archilochus’ First Cologne Epode (fr. 196a W) by reading it as a sustained travesty of an epic seduction scene. The article begins by setting out the flexibility of the epic type-scene, with an analysis of the Dios Apate in Iliad 14, Aphrodite’s seduction of Anchises in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, and Odysseus’ encounter with Nausicaa in Odyssey 6. The second part of the article demonstrates that the…
Telephus on Paros
In recent years, our understanding of Archilochus has been transformed by the discovery of a major new fragment from the Oxyrhynchus collection ( P Oxy. 4708), first published by Dirk Obbink. The new poem is not only the most substantial of Archilochus' elegiac fragments, but more importantly it is the first example we have of the poet's use of myth, for the surviving section narrates a mythological theme: the defeat of the Achaeans at the hands …
Iambus and Elegy
The study of early Greek poetry has undergone a renaissance in recent decades. But the lion’s share of interest has been devoted to melic poetry. The other small-scale poetic forms, iambus and elegy, have been relegated to a lesser position in modern scholarship. However, iambus and elegy were very important in their own right within the performance culture of archaic Greece. They outlived lyric and were also very significant for the development …
The Symbolism of Space in Euripidean Choral Fantasy ( Hipp . 732–75, Med . 824–65, Bacch . 370–433)
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
How to Make a Goddess Angry
Hymenaios
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes hymenaios. The chapter begins with a discussion of the role that choral song played in the Greek wedding, and a discussion of Sappho's hymenaioi and poetry by other authors which imitated hymenaeal forms. The second part of the chapter looks at how tragedy makes use of hymenaios, including the so‐called ‘marriage‐to‐death’ motif, whereby a young girl's death is described as a form of marriage. The ch…
Lyric Poetry in an Athenian Context
This chapter discusses the role that choral performance and lyric poetry held in fifth‐century Athenian life. It begins by examining the evidence for choral performance in Athens, and goes on to discuss how lyric poetry was known and circulated. Since many ‘high’ forms of poetry were known by elite means, this leads to a discussion of elite poetic material in democratic society, looking at the institution of the symposium and deriving evidence fr…
Understanding Lyric Genres
This chapter discusses the methodological difficulties of defining Greek lyric genres and sets out a methodology for understanding lyric genres, influenced by contemporary genre‐theory and by the works of Wittgenstein. It argues for a functionally driven approach to lyric, deriving from the poetry's performance context, and suggests that genres should be understood as functional cores around which conventional features accumulate. The chapter als…
Thrēnos and Ritual Lament
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes Thrēnos and other forms of ritual funerary song. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Greek ritual lament, and seeks continuities between the various forms such as women's lament, Thrēnos, funerary epigram. It also discusses the role that funerary legislation played in changing the nature of funeral song, and the effect that this would have had on a fifth‐century audience's understanding of ri…
The Hidden Chorus
Choral performance permeated Greek life on every level, from private weddings and funerals to large‐scale religious festivals, yet the relationship between these ritual choruses and the better known choruses of tragedy has never been systematically examined. This book represents the first detailed study of the interaction between tragic and lyric choral song. It aims to enrich our understanding of the socio‐cultural position of both tragedy and l…
Conflicting identities in the Euripidean chorus
This chapter investigates the topic of choral identity and how this is used by the tragedians. Unlike the tragic characters, the chorus’ identity is never fixed but is the free choice of the poet, and for this reason the choice of chorus profoundly influences the telling of the myth and the presentation of the characters within it. Yet choral identity does not always fall into a straightforward category; rather, choruses are presented as possessi…
Choral Mediations in Greek Tragedy
This volume explores how the choruses of Greek tragedy creatively combined media and discourses to generate their own specific forms of meaning. The contributors analyse choruses as fictional, religious and civic performers; as combinations of text, song and dance; and as objects of reflection in themselves, in relation and contrast to the choruses of comedy and melic poetry. Drawing on earlier analyses of the social context of Greek drama, the n…
The Lyric of Ibycus
Reviewed by: The Lyric of Ibycus: Introduction, Texts and Commentary by Claire Louise Wilkinson Laura Swift Claire Louise Wilkinson . The Lyric of Ibycus: Introduction, Texts and Commentary. Sozomena, 13. Berlin : de Gruyter , 2013 . Pp. x, 318 . €154.00 . ISBN 978–3-11–029514–6 . This book, a revised version of the author’s doctoral thesis, offers us a commentary on “those fragments which offer the greatest scope for an analysis of Ibycus as a w…
Telephus on Paros
In recent years, our understanding of Archilochus has been transformed by the discovery of a major new fragment from the Oxyrhynchus collection ( P Oxy. 4708), first published by Dirk Obbink. The new poem is not only the most substantial of Archilochus' elegiac fragments, but more importantly it is the first example we have of the poet's use of myth, for the surviving section narrates a mythological theme: the defeat of the Achaeans at the hands …
Stesichorus on stage
While scholars generally agree that Stesichorus was important to the tragedians, studies of the relationship focus on the broad shaping of the plot or stylistic devices, and suggest little detailed engagement at a textual level. This chapter argues that we can go further, notwithstanding the fragmentary state of Stesichorus' poetry. It focuses on Stesichorus' Oresteia and Thebais, and argues that we find intertextuality in all three tragedians an…
Negotiating Seduction
This article offers a new interpretation of Archilochus’ First Cologne Epode (fr. 196a W) by reading it as a sustained travesty of an epic seduction scene. The article begins by setting out the flexibility of the epic type-scene, with an analysis of the Dios Apate in Iliad 14, Aphrodite’s seduction of Anchises in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, and Odysseus’ encounter with Nausicaa in Odyssey 6. The second part of the article demonstrates that the…
Poetics and Precedents in Archilochus’ Erotic Imagery
This chapter explores Archilochus’ imagery and its relationship to his poetic precedents. It argues that Archilochus’ use of imagery is highly creative, and that he reworks conventional motifs in a way which undercuts their usual role in the poetic tradition. The paper investigates this theme with particular reference to the imagery of nature, which is a recurrent theme both in Archilochus’ erotic iamboi and in the wider archaic Greek tradition. …
Medea
Euripides’ Medea remains one of the most abidingly powerful of all Greek tragedies; its themes of love, jealousy, vengeance, and infanticide continue to enthral audiences more than two thousand years after it was first produced. Unlike many of Euripides’ plays, Medea is dominated by a single character, the eponymous heroine, and the debates which have surrounded the play often arise from the question of how we should respond to this complex prota…
Visual Imagery in Parthenaic Song
This chapter explores the use of visual imagery in parthenaic song, and argues that it is a distinctive feature of the genre. The chapter examines visual imagery in the surviving partheneia (Alcman PMGF 1, 3, Pindar fr. 94b S.-M.) and contrasts this with the type of self-referentiality we find in choral lyric performed by male singers. While the identity of the singers is important to various types of lyric, it is only in partheneia that we find …
Iambus and Elegy
The study of early Greek poetry has undergone a renaissance in recent decades. But the lion’s share of interest has been devoted to melic poetry. The other small-scale poetic forms, iambus and elegy, have been relegated to a lesser position in modern scholarship. However, iambus and elegy were very important in their own right within the performance culture of archaic Greece. They outlived lyric and were also very significant for the development …
Valerie Traub, Thinking sex with the early moderns
What does it mean to think sex, and how does that differ from thinking with, or thinking about, sex? In Thinking Sex with the Early Moderns, the question of studying sex in history is inseparable f
A Companion to Greek Lyric
Companion to Greek Lyric
Texts and Intertexts in Archaic and Classical Greece
Encompassing the period from the earliest archaic epics down through classical Athenian drama, this is the first concerted, step-by-step examination of the development of allusive poetics in the early Greek world. Recent decades have seen a marked rise in intertextual approaches to early Greek literature; as scholars increasingly agree on the need to read these texts in a comparative way, this only makes all the more urgent the question of how be…
Art (18 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (18 works) · Literature (17 works) · History (13 works) · Poetry (9 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Choir (6 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Visual arts (6 works)