Greek Lyric Poetry

This book presents a new text and a detailed commentary for many of the central pieces of Greek lyric poetry. For authors from Alcman to Simonides, the pieces chosen are usually the longest and best-preserved; a single large poem each is taken from Bacchylides and Pindar; two odes from tragedy illustrate the adoption of lyric into drama. The text and apparatus contain the results of fresh work on the papyri and numerous new suggestions. The commentary is chieflyliterary, and there is an introduction to each poet which gives the works a context from a wide range of evidence. The book joins textual and literary criticism of the poets together, providing a close and sustained analysis of important poems across the genre, and enables the reader to see in detail thedevelopment and diversity of a remarkable body of poetry.

Hutchinson succeeds in throwing a great deal of light on a number of exceedingly opaque texts. An immensely valuable if difficult book; appropriate for advanced graduate students and up., A fresh text and detailed commentary on twenty substantial (mostly fragmentary) pieces of archaic and classical lyric poetry., Rarely does one find such high standards of textual and literary criticism combined. No one working on any of the poetry included here can afford to neglect Hutchinson's commentary., Hutchinson's close sensitive readings yield many perceptive suggestions ... all advanced students of archaic lyric will learn much from the abundance of material (linguistic, metrical, and comparative) assembled in Hutchinson's notes and his introductions to the individual poets., A valuable contribution, not only to the understanding and appreciation of the poetry involved, but also of the poets themselves.