Sprekers vir die digter : die personae by Horatius, Odes : boek 1

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In his Odes, Horace pays particular attention not only to the subject in hand, but alsoto the reader as his audience, or the addressee, who is usually mentioned at thebeginning of the poem. As this kind of communication draws the poet into his owncreation, it is useful to refer to him in that context, as the speaker. It is evident fromthe manner of communication with the addressee that Horace conveys the message ofeach poem not solely by means of statements, but by implying certain facts, throughthis interaction between speaker and addressee. The specific addressee for each ode -to whom the speaker's attitude is a reaction - is therefore chosen with great care, inorder to underline a specific subject or support a point of view. Just as each ode isdifferent, and contains a variety of differing emotions, Horace's speakers display amyriad of different attitudes. His deeper sentiments do however remain constant.This brings one to the realisation that Horace applies a number of roles, in order toobtain the desired effect in each poem. Eventually the interaction is not between thespeaker and the addressee, but between the poet and the reader.Some of the poems do not give the names of addressees, only the roles Horace playsas the speaker. These roles are termed personae, and represent the poet on a numberof realistic and super-realistic planes. In this study, a selection of personae wasanalysed and the effects examined, in order to establish in what way the personamight influence the interpretation of the poem. Initially a collective overview ofseveral personae was planned, for the purpose of a synthesis of those personae,possibly leading to the discovery of a central Horatian persona. It was however,found, in the complex perfection of his work, that that central person is Horace: thepoet.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University