Meaningful form : parallelism and inverse parallelism in Catullus, Tibullus and Horace.

[摘要] All the poems of Catullus and Tibullus and the first three books of Horace's Odesare investigated tor structures of parallelism and inverse paral.elism (chiasmus) andthus the extent to which these devices were used is determined. Such structures aredemonstrated for the first time for several poems. Sometimes additions ormodifications are made to the structural analyses of other scholars, and sometimestheir findings are confirmed. The notion that inverse parallelism was seldom used byRoman authors is dispelled. The freedom with which these devices were used,resulting in a great variety of deviations from strictly symmetrical structures, isdemonstrated Both common and idiosyncratic features in the use of the devices bythe three authors are shown. Several poems of each author are discussed to illustratethat the demonstration of a structure of parallelism or inverse parallelism is in itselfan interpretative act, which can at the same time serve as a basis for furtherinterpretation. In particular it is shown that structures of inverse parallelism often, ifnot always, iconically reflect the meaning of the poem (hence the title of the thesis)This ability o, structures of inverse parallelism to reflect the meaning of the poemmay partly account for the fact that they are used more frequently than are structuresof parallelism. In the poems discussed structures of inverse parallelism iconicallyreflect the ideas of reversal, cyclical movement, non-progression/deadlock, balanceand/or contrast and enclosure, as well as combinations of the above, such as a spiral(both progression and non-progression) or the combination of reversal and nonprogression.Continuity between the structural methods of Greek and Roman authorsis demonstrated, and a theoretical framework is provided, which answers thequestions how such structures can be determined, and what purposes, both practicaland poetic, they serve. A literary-critical awareness of inverse parallelism inAntiquity is demonstrated. St. Augustine, especially, has a fairly developedtheoretical fram.. of reference on the subject, in his De Genest ad Littetum

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand