First of all, classical Greek poetry
Poetry has a unique meaning in ancient Greece. It is not only used to express feelings, but also used to exchange knowledge, commemorate activities and guide teaching. As early as the 9th century BC, people thought that poets had extraordinary insight into the nature of man and God. In the following centuries, talented poets have the same social status as philosophers and politicians. On the one hand, this high evaluation of poetry is due to the obvious tendency of Greek cultural tradition to regard "truth", "goodness" and "beauty" as the same; On the other hand, the ancient Greeks were naturally very sensitive to the power, rhythm and format of language.
Greek poetry before Alexandria can be divided into three stages, and each stage is prominently popular with one type of poetry: epic era, from the 9 th century BC to the 8 th century BC; Lyrics era, from the 7th century BC to the 6th century BC; Drama era, 5th century BC. These times accurately reflect their respective social environments to a certain extent: epics show the values of aristocratic and feudal society; Lyrics show the changing trend of the world, traditional values are questioned and personality development is encouraged; Drama poetry reflects the unity and stability of the city-state, the concept of democracy and the ideological conflict arising from the development of this new open society.
The earliest surviving Greek poems are Homer's epics "Ilion Ji" and "Odysseus Ji" written in Ionian, which may have been written in the 8th century BC, but not at that time. Homer's two heroic poems, based on long-term oral legends in history, show high artistic skills and are full of touching poetry. They used the standard rhythm of ancient epics, that is, six steps to raise a case and suppress it. These epics are mainly used for court entertainment and are recited by chanting poets with amazing memories. Therefore, his creative techniques are basically oral, and some idioms are used repeatedly, especially at the end of the six-tone step. However, these repeated expressions are not boring, because they are skillfully integrated with the poetic text.
Although these epics are used for court entertainment and embody many values of feudal society, they have a profound interpretation of the broader joys and sorrows of life. Because of this, Homer's poems were regarded as the richest source of moral and religious education in the whole history of ancient Greece. Homer's contribution to the determination and development of Greek poetry tradition is immeasurable. Although there are still some heroic epic fragments created in Homer's style, they have not reached the artistic height of Homer's poems. Hesiod's educational epic (8th century AD) has also been preserved. The object of hesiod's sermon is not the aristocrats in Ionia, but the peasants in Pio. They have worked hard all their lives, but their income is very small. These poems mainly involve their moral concepts and life beliefs. Although it can't be compared with Homer's poems in the scope of subject matter and creative talent, its expression is often profound and powerful.
According to the modern definition and as a literary type, lyric poetry was obviously created in the 7th century BC. However, as a form of folk poetry, its origin can be traced back to a long historical period before Homer. The Greek original meaning of the word "lyric" is: "singing with the harp"; Poems written with or without other musical instruments are not lyric poems, but belong to other types. Lyrics accompanied by harp can be divided into two categories: chorus poems, which can reach 50 people; A solo poem sung by a singer. Solo lyrics are popular in ionian islands, especially Lesbos Island. This is the center of ancient civilization. At that time, the economic situation was unstable, emerging political views clashed with traditional oligarchy, and everything was changing dramatically. This kind of lyric poetry is mainly used to express personal feelings, with a wide range of topics, from political attacks to celebrations, friendship and love. The most famous Ionian poets are the versatile Alcaeus and the poetess Sappho. Although some other Greek poets have reached the level of Sappho in writing skills, few can compare with her simple charm and strong feelings. Unfortunately, there are too few chapters left in Ionian poetry, but the existing poems can fully affirm the outstanding talents of these two poets, indicating that they are the greatest solo lyric poets. Anacreon, another poet in the 6th century BC, came from the island of Tios. His lyric poems are mainly drinking songs and love songs. Although he is an Ionian, his works are similar to the style of Ionian poetry school in many aspects. His poems are exquisitely structured, but they lack the grandeur of Alcaeus and Sappho's works.
Chorus lyric poetry, to a great extent, is the artistic creation of Greek dorris people. It first became an art form in Sparta, and the first name related to it was Telpanderos, a poet from Lesbos. His condition was forgotten today. Alkman (7th century BC), a Spartan poet, is well known to later generations, especially his poems praising girls are very touching. A long fragment of this poem has been preserved. However, due to the lack of literature, it is impossible to make a reliable evaluation of chorus poems before the 5th century BC.
The poet we know more accurately is Pindaros (5th century BC), who was born in a noble family in Thebes and inherited the long tradition of poetry in dorris. He is the most prestigious poet among the chorus lyric poets, and his works have been handed down from generation to generation. He wrote a large number of various types of chorus poems, which were collected into 17 volumes by later generations, but most of them were scattered fragments. Only four volumes * * * counted 45 original poems praising the winners of sports competitions and preserved them completely. Pindaros is brilliant. He can write neat and full of * * * poems, instead of sticking to the narrow theme of real-time activities such as sports competitions. Compared with other poets, he is more inclined to use image thinking to lead from one concept to another through image or myth association, rather than conceptual thinking mainly relying on logical reasoning. The rhythm of the carols of the winners of these competitions is very complicated and varied. Pindaros generally adopts various structures to promote and inhibit lattice. With one exception, his 45 sports carols do not use the same music format repeatedly, which also helps to show that he pursues artistic accomplishment tirelessly to express his personal characteristics.
Different from the verse structure of solo lyrics, most chorus lyrics (including Ode to the Winner of the Competition by Pindaros) usually adopt the trinity ode structure. The rhythm of the first two paragraphs (namely "verse section" and "anti-verse section") is the same, and the third paragraph is written in a different but interrelated melody format from the first two paragraphs. A poem can contain any number of triad structures, all of which have the same musical form. The theme of chorus lyric poetry is varied, from the ode to the winner of sports competition to the ode to God, elegy, girl's song, Dionysian hymn and so on. In short, the chorus lyric poets are the spokesmen of the society, expressing their compatriots' attitudes towards major events or achievements at that time. However, this burden of public obligation did not destroy Pindaros' artistic integrity at all, nor did it bind his personality. Besides Pindaros, there are other chorus lyric poets worth mentioning, such as Simonides Of Ceos and Bacillides (both poets in the 5th century BC). Unfortunately, the former's works are rarely handed down from generation to generation, while the latter's works, though beautifully narrated, lack the fiery imagination of Pindaros' ode.
There are also two kinds of poems related to lyric poetry: elegy and iambic poetry; It is also widely circulated in Greece. Elegy originated from flute-accompanied songs, and its cadence, that is, two lines of elegy, is an improved six-tone cadence, which makes people feel lighter than the epic form. At first, elegies were not used for mourning, but for many occasions: encouraging morale in battles, describing historical events, expressing deep love, and expressing personal opinions on almost any issue. The poet Minamos (7th century BC) was best at writing elegies. It is said that many of his poems are about history and geography. Judging from some existing poems, he is extremely sentimental about the brevity of life, lamenting the fleeting youth, hurting the old age and fearing the coming of death. These scattered chapters are enough to show that his poems are concise in wording, profound and appropriate in symbolism and vivid in image. He expressed all kinds of thoughts and attitudes with the rhythm of lamentation, and also reached a handy level. Contemporary with Minamos were Tiltius and Solon, an Athenian politician. But because their writing skills are not mature enough, they have not reached the height of Mimi Naimos. However, they are also very talented poets. The former is the representative of Spartan spirit that eulogizes courage and martial arts. The latter is famous for writing reflective and enlightening poems, expressing the rationality and wisdom of the Athenians. Diogenes, another poet famous for his elegy style, was born in a declining aristocratic family. His best poems are those that fully express disappointment. There are also many elegies written by other poets, which were later compiled into a book, posing as Diogenes' works. However, from the perspective of writing style and history, they can still be distinguished from the real Diogenes' poems.
Another main type is iambic poetry, which is mainly used to write satirical poems, critical poems and allegorical poems. Its structure is simpler than lyric poetry and elegy, and its musicality is also poor, which is closer to the spoken rhythm. Alkirocos (7th century BC) was an undisputed master of iambic poetry. His poems are ingenious, humorous or sharp, showing a first-class poetic genius, which not only attacks others, but also shows profound introspection and reflection. Other poets, such as Simonides Of Ceos (6th or 7th century BC), are very talented, but their poetry level is low. Xibo Nekes (6th century BC) has a narrow theme, but within this limited scope, he has reached a level of proficiency. Except Alkirocos, the authors of iambic poems generally belong to the second generation of ancient Greek poets.
With the establishment of the Greek world from the end of 6th century BC to 5th century BC, poems expressing personal feelings were replaced by new drama poems, especially tragedies. Greek tragedy may have originated from the ritual music and dance in memory of Dionysus, mainly in the form of chorus. It is said that Tespice has added an actor to the choir, which is a key step in the transformation from chorus to drama. Later, Aeschylus added a second actor, which enabled the performance to show real dramatic conflict. In the 5th century BC, the works of three major Greek tragic poets Aeschylus, Sophocles and euripides can be said to have the following characteristics: First, they pay attention to the problems of polis, such as the relationship between man and polis and the relationship between man and God; Secondly, it borrows the mythical theme described by Homer or other epic poets, without using its own original plot; The language is elegant and beautiful, but there is no affectation; Third, he is good at using images in amazing and wonderful ways, making the plot develop in depth and defining the theme.
The forms of classical tragedies are mostly based on various types of early traditions. The melody of dialogue in the play is iambic, and the melody of chorus carols is complex and changeable, which is the same as that of early and later chorus lyrics. The three-pole structure of choral ode is often used in dramatic expression. This structure is indeed very suitable for tragedy, because from the aesthetic point of view, the section and anti-section of the dialogue can constitute the epitome of the larger conflict scene in the plot, while the third paragraph or refrain can be used for the conclusion or summary of the tragedy.
The tragic development in the 5th century BC showed diversity in unification. Aeschylus is a veritable father of tragedy. He is not what some people call an "archaic poet", but a master of dramatic expression skills. He pays attention to the constant evolution of God, man and city-state, draws lessons from various conflicts and sufferings in the macro process of history, and takes the tragedy trilogy as a natural and comprehensive way to express his humanistic and theistic views. The noble temperament of his characters, the hazy atmosphere full of natural forces, exaggerated language and unusual metaphors all help to form a whole and show the tragic power of the theme. There are seven tragedies left by him, all of which are profound and mature in art.
Sophocles' view of the universe is different from Aeschylus', and it is static. Therefore, he gave up the form of trilogy and concentrated on using the power of a single drama to express the epic image and epic deeds of heroes. The world he described is mysterious, because the retribution of the people in the play is not so much because of their actions as because of their status. There is also a mysterious belief that the sufferings of these characters turn evil into good for his compatriots. Judging from the seven existing works, Sophocles' style is more simple and less elegant than Aeschylus', but it is also subtle and exquisite. The power of tragic irony and his main dramatic skills can be verified in the performance of his masterpiece Oedipus the King.
It is difficult to generalize the characteristics of euripides's tragic writing. The tragedies he left behind are 19. He has the courage to experiment and innovate. For example, he invented melodrama and created a new tragicomedy with Arctius. People often think that euripides's works are mostly "realistic" and lack of poetry; This statement is largely untrue. His language, background and plot were all taken from his life in Athens at that time, but they were not recorded truthfully. The details of the so-called "realism" were quoted only to compare the depravity of life at that time with the noble sentiments of the heroic age and to criticize it, rather than to record the phenomenon of the inversion of Athenian values he felt. His works have a lot of reformist connotations, and also have a little temperament of modern playwright Bernard Shaw. At the same time, most of his plays have excellent lyric style.
Aristophanes, a contemporary of euripides, was younger, and he still had 1 1 comedies left. Euripides compared the noble tradition of the heroic age with the meanness of the society at that time, while aristophanes compared and mocked the beauty and ugliness of the present age. His works are full of secular joy and astute satire, and involve all aspects of Athenian life without restraint. His plays are the epitome of "early plays". However, due to the changes in the political environment in the next few centuries, aristophanes's comments on social freedom were intolerable, so his comedies soon disappeared from the stage.
At the end of 5th century BC, Greek poetry began to undergo a radical upheaval. With the rise and development of science and philosophy, people's value belief in poetry as a tool to express truth began to decline. This trend was later strengthened by Plato's attack on poets; He thinks that poets are just craftsmen without real talent and learning. This new enthusiasm for conceptual knowledge makes many writers stay away from vague poetry and turn to clear and accurate historical and philosophical prose. Those artists who continue to choose poetry as an expression tool are faced with a double dilemma: on the one hand, poetry is no longer regarded as the best way to express important ideas; On the other hand, they also feel that their works have hardly reached the level of early excellent writers. Epic, lyric and dramatic poems seem to have gone through all the development processes, and the possibility of further improvement is really slim. Therefore, a group of poets appeared in the Hellenistic period, simply pursuing the elegance of style and the originality of writing skills. In order to achieve this goal, we can even ignore the clarity and authenticity of expression. Poets no longer feel that they are the mouthpiece of society, and the society itself has begun to disintegrate under the impact of various movements, and is developing in the direction of political and philosophical cosmopolitanism. They no longer feel that they are strictly bound by moral concepts and have great obligations to society; On the contrary, in the pursuit of novel and unexplored expressions, they tend to narrow their readers to artists and intellectuals. Only the "new comedy" has completely maintained the characteristics of "publicity", and it is also a major type of poetry that the poet speaks to the society. However, even Minande (342-29 BC1), who is famous for creating new comedies, is not deeply concerned about expanding readers' knowledge. During the Hellenistic period, this detached attitude can be exemplified by a manifesto poem written by Cali Marcos, a poet in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. In this short poem, he declared that he "hates epics, roads extending in all directions, and lovers wandering around;" Refuse to drink spring water for the public, and despise all popular things. "Although there is this tendency to limit the scope of poetry expression and social functions, many new explorations in the Hellenistic period, such as realism, romanticism and baroque experiments, have also produced valuable results.
In the 3rd century BC, a group of scholars and poets gathered in the emerging city of Alexandria, which was supported and rewarded by the Ptolemy dynasty. The most famous poets at that time were Calimarcos, Apollonius and Toth. Calimarcos pursued accuracy and rigor in form and wrote several different types of poems. His "ode" is a court poem, which has no religious meaning and seems a bit artificial. "His Origin" tells the origin of some customs, with a total of 4 volumes. His best work is epigrams. The origin of this kind of poetry can be traced back to the dedication poems and inscriptions in the 7th century BC, written in elegiac two-line style, and gained a rare perfect charm through Calimarcos' concise and lively poetic skills. Apollonius is a poet who goes against the social trend and tries to revive the status of epic. He wrote a four-volume poem "Argo Ship Hero". Although it benefits from Homer's works, the result is not heroic epic, but psychological description and romantic poetry, which indicates the development direction of ancient Chinese novels. Te O 'Cristos can be said to be the best of the three poets. His pastoral poems are mainly written in six lines; These poems reflect his versatility and rare talent. His pastoral music with a high sense of music and romance has reached perfection. Although his pastoral poems show the idea of avoiding the world and vulgarizing, they are not divorced from reality; His realistic imitation poems made a good mockery of social life at that time. Toth is a key figure in the history of pastoral writing. He absorbed energetic expressive skills from folk art and rich Greek literary creation tradition. On the basis of the combination of the two, his poems are vivid and touching, with smooth plots and fresh pictures, which are unparalleled in the pastoral tradition.
With the death of three great poets in the 3rd century BC, the great era of Greek poetry came to an end. Only later, there was a collection of poems called Selected Poems of Greece, which proved that some creative activities were still going on. This is a huge collection of Greek lyric short poems and poems with inscriptions, which was edited by an eastern Roman scholar in the 10 century. Most of them are elegies, with more than 4,000 pieces, including works from the 7th century BC to the Byzantine era. Most of the later works are imitative and of little value. What is commendable is Meliger's love poems (about BC 1 century) and the works of some young poets who do not break the old tradition. Generally speaking, the poetry circle at that time was cleaning up and preparing for Latin writers who injected fresh vitality into western poetry.
The tradition of ancient Greek poetry is very rich and colorful, and it is not easy to summarize its main characteristics. However, some features listed below often appear in works of various periods: concise, simple, direct and ingenious disclosure; Don't exaggerate, avoid explicit sentimentality, be rigorous and meticulous in structure, keep the writing organization balanced and symmetrical, and have a sense of music. These last features can be seen in Sappho's poems, choral hymns in tragedies and the works of almost any other famous poet. The features listed at the beginning can be proved by the epitaph of the poet Simonides Of Ceos in the 5th century BC. He was invited to write this letter for Spartan who died heroically in the Battle of Wenquanguan. Under the leadership of Leonidas, these 300 soldiers took part in the Bos War and gave their lives to defend Greek freedom. This poem does not have beautiful words of praise, nor does it use lengthy sentences to express sadness, but only uses exquisite words that shock the soul to write:
Passerby, please tell Spartan brothers,
We were buried here and obeyed their orders.
Second, medieval Greek poetry
See "Byzantine Poetry".
Third, modern Greek poetry.
From 1453 when the Turks captured Constantinople to the Greek War of Independence (182 1- 1828), the areas where Greek poetry flourished were mainly the Greek territories occupied by Franks. Crete was once the most important literary center. The main representative work of Crete literature is Etoc Toth, which is a narrative and lyric poem written by korner Ross in the middle of17th century. The rhyming poem with 10052 15 syllables describes the love story of Elotok Litos and his lover Aretusa. Crete folk songs were popular then. Crete's plays are influenced by the West, among which the most important works are Anonymous's drama The Sacrifice of Abraham and Hotamis's tragedy Erofil. 1669, the Turks captured Crete again, and the activities of Greek literature came to an end.
In other areas occupied by Turkey, the only notable poetry creation is folk songs, which prevailed in the18th century, including love songs, travel songs, lullabies and lamentations, all of which are very beautiful and fresh. Under the influence of French literature in the18th century, the officials of the Greek church in Constantinople advocated a kind of "Fanaliot" literature written in Greek, which made the Greek literature in the Eastern Roman era continue and prepared for the Greek liberation movement. The main poets on the eve of Greek liberation were Christopulos and Veracruz.
1828, after a long and arduous struggle, Greece finally gained independence, the capital Athens became the cultural center, and the romantic literature movement in Athens began. The founder of romantic poetry school is Alexander Suzos (1803— 1863). He worships Hugo and Byron, but he is famous for writing satirical poems. The representative poets of this school are Panagiotis Susos, Lan Galvez, Tantari Diss and Calassou Toth. Pallas Coase (1838- 1895) was the first poet in the last period of this school. He takes Hugo and Byron as idols, and his works have a strong tendency of patriotism and nationalism. After the decline of Athenian Romanticism, it was replaced by New Athenian Romanticism. This school attaches great importance to the value of the Greek nation and advocates the introduction of oral language into literature. Its founder and representative is Dionysus Solomos (1798- 1857). In the early days, short lyric poems were mainly written in Greek; After the baptism of the War of Independence, his poems became larger and larger. His main works include Ode to Freedom (adopted as the national anthem of Greece after the first festival) and Free People under, which praised the heroic resistance and counterattack of Mesolangjian people in the Greek war of independence. His works successfully combined classicism and romanticism harmoniously and enjoyed a high reputation in European literary circles. His poems are beautiful and well-proportioned, which is unparalleled in modern Greece. He advocated writing in popular language, which pointed out the direction for the development of Greek poetry. He also introduced some rhythmic forms of western poetry (six stanzas, six lines, three lines, eight lines and Italian three-rhyme sentences) into modern Greek poetry, making it more colorful. Other poets of this genre include George Telcaitis, Thai Pardos, Malcorras, Mavelis, etc. Mainly Calvos (1792- 1869) and varajitis (1824- 1879). The former writes serious moral education poems, while the latter works are exaggerated and romantic, which are deeply loved by readers.
/kloc-around 0/880, a group of young poets found the romantic poetry at that time barren and lifeless, and founded the New Athens School. Like their predecessors, these young people are influenced by French literature and try to make poetry a gentle and objective art. palamas (1859-1943) is the core figure of this new school of poetry. His works combine the traditions of ancient Greece and modern Greece, and also absorb various social ideologies of/kloc-0 in the late 9th century and early 20th century. His main works are Twelve Chapters of Gypsies. The protagonist in the poem is a gypsy musician, symbolizing freedom and art. With the development of the plot, the musician became the embodiment of the Greek patriot and finally became a citizen and mentor of the world. He also wrote a long epic, The King's Flute, and published a collection of lyric poems, such as Born in Unfortunate Times. His poems made him famous in Greek literature, and his fame spread all over Europe. The poets who were deeply influenced by palamas were Delosi, Polemis and strategists. Inspired by him, his successors showed their own specialties, such as Griparis's skillful use of language, Hazopoulos's beautiful sense of rhythm, Mara Casis's and Bohr Fielas's poems of sadness or joy, and Christaris's pastoral sentiment. These poets also introduced symbolism and free verse into Greek poetry, enriching Greek poetry in the 20th century.
The most important Greek poet after palamas was Sicoli Anoos (1884- 1952). His language is rich, his words are precise, his poems are vigorous and powerful, and his descriptions of mountains and rivers, people and abstract concepts are very organized. Some of his lyric poems are excellent works of western lyric poems in the 20th century. Another important poet is Kaffis (1868- 1933), who was neither influenced by palamas nor belonged to the New Athens School. The theme of his poems is the glorious and tragic Greek history and its decline in the Hellenistic period, but his historical memory is also intertwined with his personal experience. Few Greek poets can compare with him in describing the sadness and touching of tragic life. Kazandzakis (1883- 1957) was a poet who appeared after the First World War. He is famous for his novels, but he is also good at writing poems. He wrote an epic poem Ode with a length of 33,333 lines. The protagonist of this poem is a modern Odysseus, roaming in the world of thought, often full of nihilistic thoughts; Although the length is extremely long and the theme is abstract, there are still many wonderful chapters. The famous contemporary Greek poet is Severus (1900— 197 1). He is a symbolic poet who expresses the fate of modern people with pure poetic and lyrical techniques. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature of 1963. The poems of Eritis (born in 19 12) describe the beautiful scenery of Aegean islands full of light and color. He won 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Generally speaking, Greek poetry creation has the longest continuous tradition in the western world; In the past 50 years, some Greek poets rank among the famous European poets, and some even leap into the world poetry, which indicates the bright future of Greek poetry.