Consoante aos estudos recentes sobre a lírica grega arcaica, hoje podemos aduzir a ocasião de performance como um elemento central para a definição de um gênero poético. A partir dessa concepção mais ampla de gênero, este trabalho visa à tradução e estudo dos fragmentos elegíacos de Tirteu, tendo em vista o caráter estritamente político de suas elegias narrativas e marciais e seus vínculos temáticos com a tradição épica, de modo que possamos ensejar uma reflexão outra sobre a função e estatuto dessa poesia em suas determinadas ocasiões de performance. / According to modern studies on archaic greek lyric, occasion of performance was a main feature to the definition of a poetic genre. Thus, this work seeks to translate and analyze the elegiac fragments of Tyrtaeus, considering the strictly political aspect of his martial and narrative elegies and its thematic resemblances with epic tradition, in order to raise a different comprehension on the function and meaning of this poetry, given its occasions.

Consoante aos estudos recentes sobre a lírica grega arcaica, hoje podemos aduzir a ocasião de performance como um elemento central para a definição de um gênero poético. A partir dessa concepção mais ampla de gênero, este trabalho visa à tradução e estudo dos fragmentos elegíacos de Tirteu, tendo em vista o caráter estritamente político de suas elegias narrativas e marciais e seus vínculos temáticos com a tradição épica, de modo que possamos ensejar uma reflexão outra sobre a função e estatuto dessa poesia em suas determinadas ocasiões de performance. / According to modern studies on archaic greek lyric, occasion of performance was a main feature to the definition of a poetic genre. Thus, this work seeks to translate and analyze the elegiac fragments of Tyrtaeus, considering the strictly political aspect of his martial and narrative elegies and its thematic resemblances with epic tradition, in order to raise a different comprehension on the function and meaning of this poetry, given its occasions.

La figure de l’épouse fait partie intégrante du genre épique, dont les œuvres homériques ont élaboré le modèle pour la littérature gréco-romaine. L’importance accordée à l’eros féminin, et particulièrement conjugal, est l’un des aspects sur lesquels repose l’évolution de la généricité épique, d’œuvre en œuvre. À l’époque flavienne, Valérius Flaccus et Stace confèrent un rôle déterminant à deux figures féminines, celle de Médée dans les Argonautiques et celle d’Argie dans la Thébaïde, et présentent, tous deux, d’autres facettes de l’eros conjugal dans leur épisode lemnien, dont Hypsipyle est l’héroïne centrale. Cette présence accentuée du féminin peut être rapprochée de la réflexion contemporaine sur l’éthique conjugale menée dans le domaine philosophique, notamment par Musonius Rufus. Sur le plan littéraire, dans le contexte de la latinité d’argent, elle manifeste un questionnement des normes du genre, qui se traduit par une représentation de l’épouse selon des modèles autres qu’épiques : celui du genre tragique et de l’élégie romaine, particulièrement des Héroïdes d’Ovide. À la confluence de trois traditions littéraires, épique, tragique et élégiaque, le rôle des figures féminines témoigne d’un renouvellement de l’épopée, dont l’élaboration de critères d’analyse portant sur les notions de genre, de généricité et d’intergénéricité permet de donner l’entière mesure. / The character of the wife is a central feature of the epic genre, for which Homer's poems stand as a model in Greek and Latin literature. The major role the feminine eros, especially towards a husband, plays in those works is one of the aspects on which the evolution of epic genericity relies, evolving from one poem to another. During the Flavian Age, Valerius Flaccus and Statius gave two feminine characters a major part in their poems : one is Medea in The Argonautics, the other Argia in Statius' Thebaid. Besides, both poets also illustrate other aspects of husband and wife eros in the Lemnian episode, which stages Hypsipyle as its heroine. From a philosophical point of view, we can see how this emphasized presence of feminine characters matches contemporary philosophers' theories on ethics within marriage, such as Musonius Rufus' thoughts. From the point de view of literature however, considering its setting in the Age of Silver latinity, we can consider this presence as a questioning of epic generic codes, which shows in the way wives are represented, according to the patterns of tragedy and of the Roman elegy, particularly of Ovid's Heroids. Therefore in the wake of three literary traditions - epic, tragedy, elegy -, the role of feminine characters shows the renewal of the epic, which we can fully study by creating criteria of analysis bearing on the notions of genre, genericity and intergenericity.

ix, 267 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / In English literary studies, classical epic poetry is typically regarded as a masculinist genre that imparts and reinforces the values of dominant culture. The Iliad , Odyssey , and Aeneid , after all, were written by men, feature male heroes, and recount the violent events that gave rise to the misogynistic societies of ancient Greece and Rome. Yet, in the twentieth century, women poets have found inspiration for their feminist projects in these ostensibly masculinist poems. The four poets in this study, for example, have drawn from the work of Homer and Virgil to criticize the ways that conventional conceptions of gender identity have impaired both men and women. One might expect, and indeed, most critics argue, that women like H.D., Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Glück, and Anne Carson invoke their classical predecessors only to reject them and the repressive values that they represent. Close readings of these poets' work, however, demonstrate that, far from dismissing the ancient poems, Helen in Egypt , Annie Allen , Meadowlands , and Autobiography of Red are deeply invested in them, finding in them models for their own social critiques. The work of these four poets emphasizes that the classical epics are not one-dimensional celebrations of violence and traditional masculinity. Indeed, the work of Homer and Virgil expresses anxiety about the misogynistic values of the heroic code to which its warriors adhere, and it urges that war and violence are antithetical to civilized society. In examining the ways that modern women poets have drawn from these facets of the ancient works to condemn the sexism, racism, and heterocentrism of contemporary culture, my dissertation seeks to challenge the characterization of classical epic that prevails in English literary studies and to assert the necessity of understanding the complexity of the ancient texts that inspire modern poets. Taking an intertextual approach, I hope to show that close readings of the classical epics facilitate our understanding of how and why modern women have engaged the work of their ancient predecessors and that this knowledge, in turn, emphasizes that the epic genre is more complex than we have recognized and that its tradition still flourishes. / Committee in charge: Karen Ford, Chairperson, English; Paul Peppis, Member, English; Steven Shankman, Member, English; P. Lowell Bowditch, Outside Member, Classics