The Impossible Tradition of the Pindaric Ode in England

• Authors: Zsófia Barna
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The “burden of the past” (W. J. Bate) has persistently remained in the focus of poets’ attention across various periods of the history of Western poetry. Questions of tradition, historical belatedness, and “anxieti[es] of influence” (H. Bloom) have fueled both theorists and practitioners of poetry. The English Pindaric tradition confronts these questions uniquely. It has shown consciousness of its own historicity from the beginning. The vocation of the Pindaric poet and his relation to the inimitable master, Pindar, persist as central themes throughout the reception history. They contribute to the evolution of a tradition where poets increasingly question the possibility of autonomous poetic creation.

Keywords

EN

form; irregularity; Pindaric ode; poetic vocation; tradition

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Romanian Journal of English Studies
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 208-220

Dates

published

2013-03-01

online

2013-02-22

Contributors

author

Zsófia Barna

• Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/rjes-2013-0019