Writing and reading Byzantine secular poetry, 1025-1081 /
In the mid eleventh century, secular poetry attained a hitherto unseen degree of wit, vividness, and personal involvement, chiefly exemplified in the poetry of Christophoros Mitylenaios, Ioannes Mauropous, and Michael Psellos. This book examines the various social occasions, opportunities, and const...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English Greek, Ancient (to 1453) |
| Language Notes: | English, with some passsages in Greek followed by English translation. |
| Published: |
Oxford :
Oxford University Press,
2014.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | Oxford studies in Byzantium.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | In the mid eleventh century, secular poetry attained a hitherto unseen degree of wit, vividness, and personal involvement, chiefly exemplified in the poetry of Christophoros Mitylenaios, Ioannes Mauropous, and Michael Psellos. This book examines the various social occasions, opportunities, and constraints that motivated and influenced the reading and writing of poetic texts. It critically reconsiders modern assumptions about poetry, focusing instead on Byzantine conceptions of the role of poetry in society. By providing a detailed account of the various media through which poetry was presented to its readers, and by tracing the initial circulation of poems, it takes an interest in the Byzantine reader and his/her reading habits and strategies, addressing aspects of performance and visual representation. The extraordinary social mobility of the time and the importance of education were driving forces behind textual display, and fuelled contests and competitions. Didactic poetry is part of this seething rivalry between teachers, influencing the adoption of unusual metres. Poets developed different self-representative strategies against the background of an unstable elite struggling to find moral justification; the thoughtfully arranged collection of Mauropous in particular bears traces of this. Finally, this study addresses the question of patronage, analysing the discourse employed by poets to secure material rewards, and explaining the social dynamics of dedication. Gift exchange is a medium that underscores the value of their poetry and confirms the exclusive nature of intellectual friendship. |
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| Item Description: | Title from PDF title page (viewed on August 11, 2014). |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xvii, 376 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780191008788 0191008788 9780191773044 0191773042 |