This work provides translations of epigrams by 16th-century Welsh academic John Owen, including Duessa's Version: A Dirge in Seven Canticles, which offers an irreverent recapitulation of The Faerie Queene.

A delightful look at the epic literary history of the short, poetic genre of the epigram From Nestor’s inscribed cup to tombstones, bathroom walls, and Twitter tweets, the ability to express oneself concisely and elegantly, continues to be an important part of literary history unlike any other. This book examines the entire history of the epigram, from its beginnings as a purely epigraphic phenomenon in the Greek world, where it moved from being just a note attached to physical objects to an actual literary form of expression, to its zenith in late 1st century Rome, and further through a period of stagnation up to its last blooming, just before the beginning of the Dark Ages. A Companion to Ancient Epigram offers the first ever full-scale treatment of the genre from a broad international perspective. The book is divided into six parts, the first of which covers certain typical characteristics of the genre, examines aspects that are central to our understanding of epigram, and discusses its relation to other literary genres. The subsequent four parts present a diachronic history of epigram, from archaic Greece, Hellenistic Greece, and Latin and Greek epigrams at Rome, all the way up to late antiquity, with a concluding section looking at the heritage of ancient epigram from the Middle Ages up to modern times. Provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the epigram The first single-volume book to examine the entire history of the genre Scholarly interest in Greek and Roman epigram has steadily increased over the past fifty years Looks at not only the origins of the epigram but at the later literary tradition A Companion to Ancient Epigram will be of great interest to scholars and students of literature, world literature, and ancient and general history. It will also be an excellent addition to the shelf of any public and university library.

This book explores dialogue between Archaic and Classical Greek epigrams and their readers, and argues for their often-unacknowledged literary and aesthetic achievement.

David R. Slavitt’s affectionate translations of epigrams by sixteenth-century Welsh academic John Owen transmute a careful selection of the writer’s work into a vision of life, and in so doing bring Owen into conversation with the present day. Pithy, quick, favoring balance and economy over elaboration of style, the epigram is difficult in any language; that Owen mastered it in a language other than his own attests to his immense talent. Owen’s small treasures go directly to the core: “At your coming into the world, you gave a cry / of protest: why then protest that you must die?” Duessa’s Version: A Dirge in Seven Canticles offers an irreverent and provocative recapitulation of The Faerie Queene, as told by Duessa, the mutable sorceress of Spenser’s epic poem. Slavitt invests her with an unforgettable voice—outraged, profane, wise, and wickedly funny—and an exasperated contempt for the hero, Spenser’s Redcrosse Knight. Duessa’s retelling of The Faerie Queene becomes the scaffolding upon which Slavitt hangs his reflections on twentieth-century civilization and culture that are indebted at once to intelligent observation, to Spenser, and to Borscht Belt comedy. Here are virtuoso performances by a poet with resources of wit and erudition that are nothing short of astonishing. These masterly translations are bound “to get him—or at least his ghost—invited back.”

Provides an introduction as to what epigram means and why it matters. Short content excellent for undergraduates and researchers alike.

The first commentary in English on the surviving epigrams and fragments of Asclepiades of Samos, an influential Hellenistic poet who helped shape the genre of literary epigram for many generations. The volume contains an extensive introduction, a new critical text and translation, and a full literary and philological commentary.

"Greek "literary" epigrams constitute one of the most versatile and dynamic poetic forms in the Hellenistic period. Originally modeled on the anonymous epitaphs and dedications inscribed on monuments throughout antiquity, these short poems came to include a variety of subtypes and served as a vehicle for Hellenistic poets to experiment with themes and motifs from other genres. Epigram thrived into the Imperial and Byzantine periods and exerted a great influence on Latin poetry; its afterlife in other literatures continues to the present day. The modern study of Hellenistic epigram is built on the philological foundations of A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page's edition of epigrams which seem to have been collected in antiquity in the anthologies of Meleager (HE) and Philip (GPh). Since the publication of those works, new scholarly attitudes and approaches have helped transform our understanding of the form and its literary and cultural context, as have papyrological discoveries; epigrams are better appreciated as works of literature, as are the ancient collections in which they were assembled. Readers approaching the form for the first time in Greek, however, still have relatively few resources for accessing a range of poems by multiple early writers"--

The relationship between the genres of elegy and epigram has been much debated and from a dizzying variety of angles. The contributors to this volume explore the impact of Hellenistic Greek epigram on Latin erotic elegy in the light of the recent discovery and publication of papyrus book-rolls, especially those containing Hellenistic Greek epigram collections. Individual chapters approach the interrelations of Greek epigram and Latin elegy through the theoretical frameworks of intermediality (the contamination of the two different media of stone inscription and book roll) and textual criticism (applying to the Latin elegist Propertius the editorial lessons learned from the papyrus collections of Greek epigrams). Some chapters focus on the reception of specific Greek epigrams, particularly those of Meleager and Philodemus, in particular elegies of Propertius and Ovid, while others take the Latin elegists as their focus and examine their appropriation of both the thematic motifs of Greek epigram and the organizational structures of Hellenistic epigram books. All bear witness to the importance of Hellenistic Greek epigram to the authors of Latin erotic elegy, consolidate our understanding of the formal relations between the two genres in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds, and deepen our appreciation of individual Greek epigrams and Latin elegies.