Greek Lyric Poetry: From Alcman to Simonides

by Cecil Maurice Bowra

Oxford Scholarly Classics is a new series that makes available again great academic works from the archives of Oxford University Press. Reissued in uniform series design, the reissues will enable libraries, scholars, and students to gain fresh access to some of the finest scholarship of the last century.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

444 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra was an English classical scholar and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1951 to 1954.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read on the topic of greek lyric poetry. Bowra is really interested in the personality of the poets and gives a lot of biographical background (sometimes too much at the cost of the interpretation of the fragments).
I did not enjoy all chapters in the same way. The ones on Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon and Simonides were really good; the one on Stesichorus a bit boring (but that's also due to the pitiful amount of fragments we have from him).
Nevertheless, there are tons of valueable information to find in here and Bowra can write pleasant prose.

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an outstanding book on what, for me at least, is a difficult topic: Greek lyric poetry. In each chapter, Bowra deals with a particular poet. He summarizes what can be known or surmised of the poet's biography and geography, and then discusses the poetic fragments thematically. I learned a tremendous amount, and was able to place the poets better in context thanks to Bowra's wide-ranging scholarship.

With that said, I should make clear that this book works best as a companion to a volume of the texts themselves. Bowra doesn't necessarily quote the extant fragments to the full extent. I would recommend working/struggling your way through an edition like the Oxford Classical Texts Lyrica Graeca Selecta and then reading the relevant chapter in Bowra's Greek Lyric Poetry to understand what is going on.

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

[...]ὁ μὲν γὰρ κάλος ὅσσον ἴδην πέλεται (κάλος),

ὁ δὲ κάγαθος αὐτικα και κάλος ἔσσεται.

[αὐτὸς ποὺ εἶναι ὡραῖος, εἶναι ὡραῖος στὴν ὄψη, αὐτὸς ὅμως ποὺ εἶναι καὶ καλός, θὰ εἶναι αὐτόματα καὶ ὡραῖος.]

Αὐτὴ ἡ γυναίκα ἔφτασε νὰ τοποθετεῖ τὴν ὀμορφιά, ἡ ὁποία τὴν ἄγγιζε τόσο βαθιά, σὲ δεύτερη μοίρα για χάρη τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀρχοντιᾶς. Παρόμοια, δὲν θεωροῦσε τὴν ἀπόκτηση πλούτου αὐτόματα ἀγαθή, ἀλλὰ διεῖδε τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς κινδύνους που κρύβει κάτι τέτοιο, καὶ συνειδητοποίησε τὶς ὑποχρεώσεις ποὺ ἐπιβάλλει:

ὁ πλοῦτος ἄνευ τὰς ἀρέτας οὐκ ἀσίνης πάροικος·

ἀ δ' ἀμφοτέρων κρᾶσις εὐδαιμονίας †ἔχει τὸ ἄκρον.

[πλοῦτος χωρὶς καλοσύνη δὲν εἶναι ἄβλαβος γείτονας· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ δυὸ μαζὶ εἶναι ἡ ἄκρα εὐδαιμονία.]

Ἡ γυναίκα αὐτὴ ποὺ ἀσφαλῶς γνώριζε τί θὰ πεῖ ὀργή, ὅταν τὴ προκαλοῦσε εἴτε ὁ ἀδελφός της εἴτε οἱ ἀντίπαλοί της, μπορούσε νὰ ἀπευθύνει τὴν ἀκόλουθη σχετική προειδοποίηση:

σκιδναμένας ἐν στήθεσιν ὄργας

μαψυλάκαν γλῶσσαν πεφύλαχθαι.

[ὅταν ὁ θυμὸς σοῦ πλημμυρίζει τὰ στήθη, φυλάξου ἀπὸ γλώσσα ποὺ κακολογεῖ στὴν τύχη.]

Ὅλα τοῦτα εἶναι ἐντελῶς τυχαῖα καί, μολονότι μᾶς λένε κάτι γιὰ τὴ Σαπφώ, περισσότερα γιὰ τὴν προσωπικότητά της μαθαίνουμε ἐκεῖ ὅπου ἀκολουθεῖ τὰ αἰσθήματά της καὶ μιλᾶ ἐλεύθερα γι᾿ αὐτά.[...]