Archilochus Handbook

by Archilochus, Frank Redmond (Editor)

This edition of Archilochus is intended to be a general introduction for an educated reader. It does not contain new scholarship, findings, arguments, and/or insight into Archilochus and his works. This edition does however provide the general reader with an eminently readable volume, background on the poet, elucidation of points of interest, unique images, and easy to read content from credible sources. Archilochus was a Greek poet living in the Seventh Century BC. He originated from the island of Paros but spent considerable time on Thasos, the Thracian colony of Paros. Archilochus’ relationship with Thasos and the idea of Greek colonization is explored in his poetry. He is unique in being the first Greek author to compose almost entirely based on his own emotions and experiences. Previous poets, namely Homer and Hesiod, used Greek myth and legend as the basis of their poetry. Archilochus made much of his poetry personal, basing it on a specific point of view. Traditional epic tended to be more detached from its material. Throughout his poetry, Archilochus explores what it means to be a person trying to make terms with the world and events surrounding him.

Genres: Poetry

70 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2014

About the author

Archilochus (/ɑːrˈkɪləkəs/; Greek: Ἀρχίλοχος Arkhilokhos; c. 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet from the island of Paros in the Archaic period. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest known Greek author to compose almost entirely on the theme of his own emotions and experiences.

Reviews

[Banbury · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read every word of this book, but I have no idea what it was about. Perhaps it was a source book listing mentions and/or quotations of Archilochus, which might be helpful to a scholar. It did not appear there was any large quantity of the poetry of Archilochus, perhaps a bit more of his analysis of how a poem should scan. Because it was in translation, I do not think the reader could have any appreciation of the discussion of meter and/or rhythm that would have been in the original Ancient Greek. Really, a mystery to me, but perhaps the failing is my lack of knowledge about the subject.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent little introduction into the biography of the ancient Greek poet Archilochus, as well as the fragments of his work that remain extant. My only complaint, but it is a significant one, is that the quotations of his fragments are all given in English translation, with no Greek given unless illustrating one particular word. For this reason, I could not go higher than 4 stars; I suppose that including the original Greek would have about doubled the size of the book, but it would have been worth it.