The Poetry of Greek Tragedy

by Richmond Lattimore

Is Sophocles the poet "more important" than Sophocles the moralist, Sophocles the student of character, or Sophocles the storyteller? In this acclaimed work, eminent classicist Richmond Lattimore examines the complex and varied ways in which Greek poetry contributes to Greek drama. While acknowledging the difficulty of separating poetry -- especially in translation -- from other aspects of language, Lattimore offers keen insight into plays by Aeschylus (The Suppliant Maidens, The Persians, The Seven against Thebes, Prometheus Bound), Sophocles (Ajax, Oedipus Tyrannus), and Euripides (Medea, Helen, The Bacchae).

Genres: Poetry, Drama, Literature

160 pages, Unknown Binding

Published March 1, 1958

About the author

Richmond Lattimore graduated from Dartmouth in 1926 and received an A.B. from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church in 1932. He took his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1934.

He was an American poet and classicist known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the Iliad and Odyssey, which are generally considered as among the best English translations available

Reviews

[Paul H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting greatness, given Lattimore's skill as a translator, but these lectures are rambling and semi-incoherent (at best).

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Lattimore's translations are more poetic than any other translator's interpretations of Greek drama. His exegesis does not quite match his acumen as a translator, but his ideas are worth considering. He is most persuasive when he is speaking about poetry: "Poetry is always the basis of tragedy"(54). In reference to Ajax, the illusion of poetry is that it can "guarantee the greatness of Ajax"--which no rational argument can make (80). Lattimore's claims are not as convincing when he writes about more philosophical issues: Drama must convey the "illusion of inevitability" (147). Perhaps this was the source of Plato's quarrel with poetry. Sophocles asserted that people are breathing dolls and all that ensues in one's life may be attributable to fate, the gods, or human nature. The Greeks, by several accounts, did not subscribe to such a fatalistic view of life--at least not unanimously.

"A person's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe." Euripides.