Greek Tragedy
About this ebook
Two important topics have been given more prominence than is usual in books of this kind: dramatic structure and the scansion of lyrics.
It might have been supposed self-evident that the former of these is a vital part, indeed the foundation, of the subject, but it has suffered remarkable neglect or still more remarkable superficiality of treatment: criticism of the Greek tragedians has been vitiated time and again by a tendency to ignore the very existence of dramatic form. It is a strange reflection that the world of scholarship waited till 1887 for the mere revelation of grave difficulties in the plot of the Agamemnon. Examining boards still prescribe ÒAjax vv. 1-865,Ó on the nave assumption that they know better than Sophocles where the play ought to end. Euripides has been discussed with a perversity which one would scarcely surpass if one applied to Anatole France the standards appropriate to Clarendon. Throughout I have attempted to follow the working of each playwrightÕs mind, to realize what he meant his work to Òfeel likeÓ. This includes much besides structure, but the plot is still, as in AristotleÕs day, Òthe soul of the dramaÓ.
Chapter VI, on metre and rhythm, will, I hope, be found useful. Greek lyrics are so difficult that most students treat them as prose. I have done my best to be accurate, clear, and simple, with the purpose of enabling the sixth-form boy or undergraduate to read his ÒchorusÓ with a sense of metrical and rhythmical form. With regard to this chapter, even more than the others, I shall welcome criticism and advice.
