Epic from Epigram: The Poetics of Valerius Flaccus' "Argonautica"

This article makes the case for the importance of epigram, in terms of both form and content, for Valerius Flaccus' "Argonautica". In the battle scenes of Books 3 and 6, in particular, recurrent allusions to epigrammatic themes unveil Valerius' poetics of epigram that evoke the d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of philology 2009-12, Vol.130 (4), p.533-566
Main Author: Dinter, Martin T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civil wars
Death
Epigrams
Epitaphs
Gestures
Heroes
Imagery
Narrative poetry
Narratives
Poetics
Poetry
Warfare
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Summary:This article makes the case for the importance of epigram, in terms of both form and content, for Valerius Flaccus' "Argonautica". In the battle scenes of Books 3 and 6, in particular, recurrent allusions to epigrammatic themes unveil Valerius' poetics of epigram that evoke the dead for poetic purposes. As part of this, the apostrophe te quoque serves as an epitaphic gesture that marks the "Argonautica", with its recurrent civil war imagery, as an epitaph on the golden age. In addition, Valerius employs these epitaphic markers as an organising device, a narrative "glue" that makes the Iliadic and the Odyssean parts of his narrative hang together.
ISSN:0002-9475
1086-3168
1086-3168
DOI:10.1353/ajp.0.0082