The Poetic World of Statius' Silvae

The Poetic World of Statius' Silvae
Author: Michael Putnam
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2023-06
Genre:
ISBN: 0192869272

In the essays of this volume, Michael Putnam shows how seriously Statius pays homage to his canonical predecessor, Virgil, how thoroughly he interprets the complexities of Virgilian poetry, and how he often, by placing a Virgilian reference in a different social and cultural context, boldly turns Virgil to new and more positive purposes. He focuses particularly, though not exclusively, on those Silvae which deal with the architectural world of Statius' society, the private villas, the gardens, and the imperial palace. He also writes of the Roman equivalent of the 'Grand Tour,' a young man's educational journey through the monuments of Egypt, Greece, and Asia Minor. The essays offer valuable insight into the cultural and social identity of late first-century imperial Rome. Statius' reverential but also heuristic engagement with Virgil emerges more distinctly across the interrelated essays. Putnam's collected essays display the pioneering nature of Statius' Silvae in the development of ecphrasis as an important social and literary mode in Roman poetry.

Statius and the Silvae

Statius and the Silvae
Author: Alex Hardie
Publisher:
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1983
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Although writing in Latin, Statius (first-century AD) was, by origin and training, a Greek poet, and his collection of "occasional" poems, the Silvae, are a Roman extension of contemporary trends in Greek display poetry. No reading of the Silvae can be accurate without an understanding of this Graeco-Roman poetic milieu. This book therefore begins with a reconstruction of the professional background to the Silvae - the festival circuit, the conditions of work for writers, their opportunities for advancement in the Greek and Roman worlds - both in the Hellenistic period and in the first century A.D. In this setting, display oratory and poetry are shown to have developed in parallel and to have had a profound mutual influence. Further chapters consider Statius' performances as a Neapolitan poet at Rome, his portrayal of his own society and his friends, and his attitudes to his Latin predecessors. Literary patronage, both imperial and private, is a vital element in Statius' poetic career, and Hardie goes on to investigate the identity and social standing of the addressees of the Silvae . He also considers the career of the contemporary epigrammatist Martial in comparison to that of Statius. Many essential features of Flavian taste emerge from these studies. Large-scale interpretations of individual poems are offered throughout this volume, making many new suggestions about both points of detail and the overall significance of the major poems in the Silvae . Statius and the Silvae is an important contribution to the debate on the relationship between poetry and rhetoric, and to the understanding of how society and literature interconnected in the Flavian age.

The Silvae of Statius

The Silvae of Statius
Author: Publius Papinius Statius
Publisher:
Total Pages: 306
Release: 1908
Genre: Occasional verse, Latin
ISBN:

The Poetry of Statius

The Poetry of Statius
Author: Johannes Jacobus Louis Smolenaars
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2008
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004171347

The Roman poet P. Papinius Statius (ca. 45-96) is the author of two epics (the "Thebaid" and the unfinished "Achilleid") and a large corpus of occasional verse ("Silvae"). This poetry, long seen as derivative or decadent, is increasingly appreciated for the daring and originality of its responses both to the Greek and Latin literary tradition and to the contemporary Roman world. This volume offers the papers delivered at a symposium on Statius (Amsterdam 2005) by leading scholars in the field from Europe and North America. These papers demonstrate the fascination of Statius' poetry on account of the poet's vast knowledge of Greek and Latin tragedy, his rapid narrative, psychological acumen, brilliant eulogies, and pessimistic views on gods and men. The focus of the collection is on literary technique in the "Thebaid," on socio-historical aspects of the "Silvae," and on the reception of Statius in European literature and scholarship.

Statius' Silvae and the Poetics of Empire

Statius' Silvae and the Poetics of Empire
Author: Carole E. Newlands
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2002-03-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139432702

Statius' Silvae, written late in the reign of Domitian (AD 81–96), are a new kind of poetry that confronts the challenge of imperial majesty or private wealth by new poetic strategies and forms. As poems of praise, they delight in poetic excess whether they honour the emperor or the poet's friends. Yet extravagant speech is also capacious speech. It functions as a strategy for conveying the wealth and grandeur of villas, statues and precious works of art as well as the complex emotions aroused by the material and political culture of empire. The Silvae are the product of a divided, self-fashioning voice. Statius was born in Naples of non-aristocratic parents. His position as outsider to the culture he celebrates gives him a unique perspective on it. The Silvae are poems of anxiety as well as praise, expressive of the tensions within the later period of Domitian's reign.

Silvae Book II

Silvae Book II
Author: P. Papinius Statius
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 551
Release: 2018-07-17
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004328173

The five books of the Silvae bring together the occasional verses which Statius wrote in addition to his two epics. In these short descriptive poems Statius elaborates features taken from various genres into an original whole, in which description and eulogy play important roles. The main themes of the poems of his second book are consolation after bereavement and the contrast between nature and culture. The present work contains a general introduction, a text of Silvae II, a bibliography, and an index, together with a verse-by-verse commentary on the poems of this second book. This is the first commentary on a book of the Silvae since Vollmer's commentary on the whole of the Silvae of 1898. Emphasis is here placed on interpretation and moreover chiefly on the literary and stylistic aspects of the poems, which, compared with the epic poetry of Statius and his contemporaries, have hitherto received relatively little attention.

Statius Silvae 5

Statius Silvae 5
Author: Publius Papinius Statius
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 552
Release: 2006-10-05
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN:

Publisher description

The Poetic World of Statius' Silvae

The Poetic World of Statius' Silvae
Author: Michael C. J. Putnam
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN: 9780192695987

In the essays of this volume, Michael Putnam shows how seriously Statius pays homage to his canonical predecessor, Virgil, how thoroughly he interprets the complexities of Virgilian poetry, and how he often, by placing a Virgilian reference in a different social and cultural context, boldly turns Virgil to new and more positive purposes.