Through a reading of the major surviving pieces of Greek lyric poetry in translation, this course investigates the themes, techniques and the social context of the genre. It offers students a new perspective from which to study lyric poems by focussing on the relationship between poets, texts and audiences.

Two one-hour sessions per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus. This is one of the Honours

options in Classics and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are

available on MyCampus.

None

The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ Examination (90 minutes duration) - 50% 

■ Essay (2000 words) - 50% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There are no alternatives to the assessments, but flexible deadlines or extra time can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ study in depth a selection of Greek lyric poetry from synchronic and diachronic perspectives

■ explore relationships between lyric poems and their performance contexts in ancient Greece

■ become familiar with the textual transmission of Greek lyric pieces

■ discuss different theoretical approaches to interpreting Greek lyric poetry

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ identify the formal characteristics of different lyric genres (melic, iambic, elegiac)

■ compare the different types of lyric poetry with regard to performance and themes

■ recognise the social, political and cultural context of lyric poetry

■ summarise and evaluate modern theories about lyric poetry and its performance

■ formulate your own interpretations of the poems with due regard for recent scholarship

■ formulate lucid arguments which demonstrate engagement with primary texts and secondary literature

■ demonstrate such essay skills as stipulated in the Classics Handbook