Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


ucin1166540258.pdf (3.6 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

POETIC VOICES AND HELLENISTIC ANTECEDENTS IN THE ELEGIES OF PROPERTIUS

HATCH, JOEL SIMMONS
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1166540258

Abstract Details

2007, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : Classics.
This dissertation, Poetic Voices and Hellenistic Antecedents in the Elegies of Propertius, explores some of the techniques with which Propertius crafts a unique poetic voice for his own persona, as well as the poetic voices of other characters in the elegies (chiefly in the Monobiblos and in Book 4). I argue that these techniques are themselves Propertius' own modification and adaptation of techniques he found employed by the Hellenistic poets, on whom he so heavily drew. I demonstrate that, in order to construct arguments which will characterize his own poetic persona, Propertius sometimes draws upon actual epigram sequences in Meleager's Garland, so that the work of the editor's careful arrangement is manipulated and adapted to the needs of the Propertian speaker. I show how he draws upon diverse genres of Hellenistic poetry, such as curse poetry, erotodidactic poetry, catalogue poetry, and the komos, in order to generate and modulate the tone of his poetic voice throughout a given elegy. And I argue that certain Hellenistic poems serve as analogical models (rather than allusive ones) for the poetic technique of appropriating other voices than that of the poet-speaker's persona, thereby blurring the boundaries between different speakers and voices and generating more complex and subtle meaning. After examining each of these techniques individually, I demonstrate how they work together, taking as my example the opening elegy of Propertius' fourth book of elegies. Through a comparison of this elegy with the first and thirteenth Iambi of Callimachus, I argue that a detailed understanding of Propertius' method of adaptation and manipulation of these poetic techniques from his antecedent has great heuristic value for reassessing the difficulties of this most controversial poem, and Book 4 as a whole.
Dr. Kathryn Gutzwiller (Advisor)
287 p.
Propertius; Roman elegy; Hellenistic poetry; poetic voices

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • HATCH, J. S. (2007). POETIC VOICES AND HELLENISTIC ANTECEDENTS IN THE ELEGIES OF PROPERTIUS [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1166540258

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • HATCH, JOEL. POETIC VOICES AND HELLENISTIC ANTECEDENTS IN THE ELEGIES OF PROPERTIUS. 2007. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1166540258.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • HATCH, JOEL. "POETIC VOICES AND HELLENISTIC ANTECEDENTS IN THE ELEGIES OF PROPERTIUS." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1166540258

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1166540258
4,273
© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.