Lyricism in Hellenistic Epigram

What is it about?

This paper explores the lyrical qualities of Hellenistic epigram not only by linking it to lyric poems and tropes of the past but primarily by drawing on modern understanding of lyric as genre or mode. Taking as a point of departure lyric subjectivity, it discusses the degree to which the poet's voice is involved in different types of epigram, namely dedicatory, sepulchral, and erotic. An in-depth reading of epigrams from the Greek Anthology brings to light the various uses and effects of the lyric "I" within the rhetoric of epigrammatic discourse.

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