CLGR 403 Poetry and Revolution in Archaic Greece (Not offered 2008-2009; to be offered 2009-2010)
The age of experiment, lyric poetry, tyranny, migration and discovery, and the personal voice: it takes many images to describe the profound changes in Greek society, thought, and self-expression that took place during the archaic era (roughly 800 BCE to the Persian invasion of 479 BCE). We will first read selections from the lyric poets (e.g. Archilochus and Sappho, Tyrtaeus and Solon), whose concise and expressive poems reflected contemporary culture in a way that the archaic epics did not. Their poems create for modern readers, as they did for the Greeks, a powerful sense of the poet's personal presence and engagement with his (or her) audience. A similar intimacy characterizes the writings of many of the pre-Socratics, from which we will next read selections. Confident in the ability of the human mind to understand both the human and the physical world, the pre-Socratics anticipated what came to be known as philosophy and natural science. We will then turn to other writers who spoke directly about the political upheavals of the archaic age, focussing on the "tyrant narratives" of Herodotus. Throughout the semester we will also consider such significant material changes in the archaic era as the development of monumental public sculpture, the evolution of the temple, and the undertaking of vast building programs, all of which transformed the visual scale of the Greek cities and their citizens' sense of self and community.
Format: recitation/discussion. Evaluation will be based on daily translations and contributions to class discussion, several translation quizzes, an oral presentation, a final paper, and a final exam.
Prerequisites: Greek 201 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 5-6).
CHRISTENSEN