When Heroes Sing

Sophocles and the Shifting Soundscape of Tragedy

Bibliographic Data

ID19902170
AuthorsSarah Nooter (University of Chicago, corresponding author)
Year2012
Publication date2012-05-31
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueWhen Heroes Sing (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511736209
OpenAlexW630445963
Open LibraryOL34476122M
ISBN9780511736209
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited83

This book examines the lyrical voice of Sophocles' heroes and argues that their identities are grounded in poetic identity and power. It begins by looking at how voice can be distinguished in Greek tragedy and by exploring ways that the language of tragedy was influenced by other kinds of poetry in late fifth-century Athens. In subsequent chapters, Professor Nooter undertakes close readings of Sophocles' plays to show how the voice of each hero is inflected by song and other markers of lyric poetry. She then argues that the heroes' lyrical voices set them apart from their communities and lend them the authority and abilities of poets. Close analysis of the Greek texts is supplemented by translations and discussions of poetic features more generally, such as apostrophe and address. This study offers new insight into the ways that Sophoclean tragedy inherits and refracts the traditions of other poetic genres

Aesthetics · Afterlife · Art · Greek tragedy · HERO · Identity (music) · Lament · Literature · Poetry · Power (physics) · Tragedy (event) · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism · Theatre and Performance Studies · History and criticism · Language · Sophocles · Tragedy

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