Antonio Aloni The function of elegy There are different kinds of function elegiac poems can fulfil in the different contexts where they were performed. Separating functions and occasions of a composition is of course impossible: the content is always shaped with a view to the occasion, to achieve a particular aim. Changing one of these factors affects all others. The great versatility of elegy is unquestionable. Elegy is able to engage with very different aspects of the lives (and deaths) of individuals and communities (interpreted both as groups and as political bodies). As a result, it can fulfil a multitude of functions. In fact, most or all of the functions performed by the different poetic genres are performed also by elegy, combined in various ways. A narrative song, which aims to commemorate or praise the deeds of ancestors, can turn into an exhortatory poem, when circumstances of performance require that the audience models its behaviour on that of its ancestors. The different functions of a song are not all and forever fixed in the act of composition. The constant reuse typical of all archaic poetry is typical also to elegy, and is, if anything, more pronounced here. We may theoretically discern three functions: telling (a), making (b) and making act (c). (a) Telling: elegy often tells the present or the past, with the aim of formulating a model of reality, and above all of establishing a point of view. This is the kind of elegy that is typical of sympotic congregations, dialogical and calling for an answer. The people it mentions are mostly the participants in the symposion, and the symposion is often also the subject of the poem. Mimnermus‟ „pensive‟ fragments, Xenophanes‟ elegies and a large part of the Theognidean Sylloge all are in this category. (b) Making: elegy builds a monument out of the memory of brave men and glorious acts past and present, a mnema to be looked at as much as listened to, both by the immediate addressees and by those who will enjoy the poem in the future. This function characterizes poems like Simonides‟ Plataea Poem or the long poems about wars and the foundation of cities like Mimnermus‟ Smyrneis. (c) Making act: the function of causing an action, explicitly required by elegiac song of its own audience. This is an exhortatory kind of elegy, sometimes coexisting with other functions, sometimes in isolation. The memory of the past (e.g., Mimn. 14 W), is not only a behavioural model, but can become the cause of immediate and necessary action. This function seems to dominate in Callinus and Tyrtaeus: past and present converge to transform the audience into an active subject, ready to perform deeds of valour. As in the case of (b), the sender does not offer a viewpoint, to be adopted or to be engaged in dialogue with by others. One consequence of the complexity of the different functions of elegy is a corresponding complexity in the respective roles of the various parties involved in its performance. The dialogical character of much sympotic elegy makes the roles of sender and receiver largely interchangeable. Therefore, even if there is an author, elegiac compositions can always be added to or changed, so much so in fact that not even the threatening sphragis of Theognis (vv. 19-24) could preserve his poetry from interferences and additions. The ties with the composer are stabler and firmer for the poems where the dominant function is „making‟ or „making act‟: the Smirneis is indissolubly tied to the name of Mimnermus, and the Salamis (whatever its primary performance context might have been) is tied to Solon. But even works in which the author‟s mark is stronger and more authoritative may be reused: Tyrt. 12.13-16 W reappears as vv. 1003-1006 of the Theognidean Sylloge, but the function of these verses is greatly different from the original one. In the context of the Theognidean symposion, Tyrtaeus‟ verses recall the atmosphere and the values of another symposion (this one indeed authoritative). A slight textual variation underlines the change in function: a „wise man‟: Theogn. 1004 takes the place of the „young man‟. This way the two couplets assume a general gnomic value, valid for all those who share in the wisdom of the symposion. Another consequence is the difficulty in defining the role of the composer towards his own poetry. The segments of Solon or Mimnermus in Theognis show that the symposiasts in the fifth century who sang Theognis‟ elegies, also sang certain elegies by Tyrtaeus and Mimnermus as part of Theognis‟ own. In the process of reuse and recomposition for new performances, the composer turns in many cases into a semi-mythical figure, the starting point of a tradition in which, in the course of time, different audiences come to recognize themselves. A tradition in which the poetic „I‟ is only a temporary function.
Panel nell'ambito della Annual Conference della Classical Association all'Università di Liverpool, 27-30 Marzo 2008ELEGIAC COMMUNICATION: PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES
ALONI, Antonio Maria;
2008-01-01
Abstract
Antonio Aloni The function of elegy There are different kinds of function elegiac poems can fulfil in the different contexts where they were performed. Separating functions and occasions of a composition is of course impossible: the content is always shaped with a view to the occasion, to achieve a particular aim. Changing one of these factors affects all others. The great versatility of elegy is unquestionable. Elegy is able to engage with very different aspects of the lives (and deaths) of individuals and communities (interpreted both as groups and as political bodies). As a result, it can fulfil a multitude of functions. In fact, most or all of the functions performed by the different poetic genres are performed also by elegy, combined in various ways. A narrative song, which aims to commemorate or praise the deeds of ancestors, can turn into an exhortatory poem, when circumstances of performance require that the audience models its behaviour on that of its ancestors. The different functions of a song are not all and forever fixed in the act of composition. The constant reuse typical of all archaic poetry is typical also to elegy, and is, if anything, more pronounced here. We may theoretically discern three functions: telling (a), making (b) and making act (c). (a) Telling: elegy often tells the present or the past, with the aim of formulating a model of reality, and above all of establishing a point of view. This is the kind of elegy that is typical of sympotic congregations, dialogical and calling for an answer. The people it mentions are mostly the participants in the symposion, and the symposion is often also the subject of the poem. Mimnermus‟ „pensive‟ fragments, Xenophanes‟ elegies and a large part of the Theognidean Sylloge all are in this category. (b) Making: elegy builds a monument out of the memory of brave men and glorious acts past and present, a mnema to be looked at as much as listened to, both by the immediate addressees and by those who will enjoy the poem in the future. This function characterizes poems like Simonides‟ Plataea Poem or the long poems about wars and the foundation of cities like Mimnermus‟ Smyrneis. (c) Making act: the function of causing an action, explicitly required by elegiac song of its own audience. This is an exhortatory kind of elegy, sometimes coexisting with other functions, sometimes in isolation. The memory of the past (e.g., Mimn. 14 W), is not only a behavioural model, but can become the cause of immediate and necessary action. This function seems to dominate in Callinus and Tyrtaeus: past and present converge to transform the audience into an active subject, ready to perform deeds of valour. As in the case of (b), the sender does not offer a viewpoint, to be adopted or to be engaged in dialogue with by others. One consequence of the complexity of the different functions of elegy is a corresponding complexity in the respective roles of the various parties involved in its performance. The dialogical character of much sympotic elegy makes the roles of sender and receiver largely interchangeable. Therefore, even if there is an author, elegiac compositions can always be added to or changed, so much so in fact that not even the threatening sphragis of Theognis (vv. 19-24) could preserve his poetry from interferences and additions. The ties with the composer are stabler and firmer for the poems where the dominant function is „making‟ or „making act‟: the Smirneis is indissolubly tied to the name of Mimnermus, and the Salamis (whatever its primary performance context might have been) is tied to Solon. But even works in which the author‟s mark is stronger and more authoritative may be reused: Tyrt. 12.13-16 W reappears as vv. 1003-1006 of the Theognidean Sylloge, but the function of these verses is greatly different from the original one. In the context of the Theognidean symposion, Tyrtaeus‟ verses recall the atmosphere and the values of another symposion (this one indeed authoritative). A slight textual variation underlines the change in function: a „wise man‟: Theogn. 1004 takes the place of the „young man‟. This way the two couplets assume a general gnomic value, valid for all those who share in the wisdom of the symposion. Another consequence is the difficulty in defining the role of the composer towards his own poetry. The segments of Solon or Mimnermus in Theognis show that the symposiasts in the fifth century who sang Theognis‟ elegies, also sang certain elegies by Tyrtaeus and Mimnermus as part of Theognis‟ own. In the process of reuse and recomposition for new performances, the composer turns in many cases into a semi-mythical figure, the starting point of a tradition in which, in the course of time, different audiences come to recognize themselves. A tradition in which the poetic „I‟ is only a temporary function.
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