Continuity and Change in Greek Bucolic Between Theocritus and Virgil

Bibliographic Data

ID20076769
AuthorsJoseph D Reed
Year2006
Pages209-234
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueBrill's Companion to Greek and Latin Pastoral (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789047408536_010
OpenAlexW828382828
ISBN9789047408536
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Although ancient Greek sources name only two poets after Theocritus (Moschus of Syracuse and Bion of Smyrna), the Theocritean manuscripts and other sources preserve a considerable body of poetry like theirs. Each late bucolic poem works out its own relationship to Theocritus poetry, particularly his dramatic hexameter poems in Doric-colored epic dialect, among which those dealing with pastoral subjects are especially conspicuous models. Bion's 18-line fr. 2 is a dialogue about which season is best, and a few of his and Moschus' shorter fragments show only non-erotic themes; otherwise, all of late bucolic is about eros. Some of the late bucolic discourse follows into Virgil's Eclogues , where it evolves into new ways of thinking about poetry, death, and desire. The song Bion sings before the gods of the Underworld is one of Lethe, that is, oblivion. Keywords: bucolic poets; Greek; non-erotic themes; Theocritus; Virgil

Art · Literature · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History

Tools

Open DOILibgen