[.ca] Greek Elegiac Poetry: From the Seventh to the Fifth ... (ISBN 0674995821)

"...delighting in the lyre and lovely feasting...":
This is an excellent volume for anyone interested in poetry, ancient Greek culture and mores, and the expression of thought in subtle shadings. The poets included in this volume, in the order of presentation, are: Callinus, Tyrtaeus, Mimnermus, Solon, Theognis (and the "Theognidae"), Philiadas, Phocylides, Demodocus, Xenophanes, Asius, Dionysius Chalcus, Euenus, Critias, and Anonymous Elegiacs. There is an excellent Introduction, and each poet's section begins with "Testimonia" from ancient authors concerning the poet. The poems are sometimes fragments, lines or phrases which were quoted by some ancient author or by a later commentator on some ancient author, who then uses the line or phrase of the poet mentioned. The "elegy" in this case is not the poem of mourning that most people are familiar with. As the Introduction, by the translator and editor, Douglas E. Gerber states: "Almost any topic, apart from the scurrilous or obscene, was considered suitable for archaic elegy and in this period it is therefore more apporpriate to define elegy as simply a poem composed in elegiac couplets." Many of the poems were composed during symposia, drinking parties where intellectual discussion and cultural commentary and criticism also were shared by the participants. Some of the poetry is wise advice; some is commentary on love making and beauty worshipping. All of it is wondrous insight into ancient Greek thinking, ways of living, and creative expression. -- Robert Kilgore.