Idylls. Translated by Anthony Verity. With an introduction and notes by Richard Hunter. (Oxford World's Classics)

THEOCRITUS

ISBN 10: 0192839845 / ISBN 13: 9780192839848

Published by Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

About this Item

Wrappers. First paperback edition (translation first published 2002), inscribed by the translator, "for Dominic Hibberd January 2005 Tony Verity".

Seller Inventory # 34M100364

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Idylls. Translated by Anthony Verity. With an introduction and notes by Richard Hunter. (Oxford World's Classics)
• Publisher: Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192839845
• ISBN 13: 9780192839848
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Classics

About this title

Synopsis

A key figure in the development of Western literature, the Greek poet Theocritus of Syracuse, was the inventor of "bucolic" or pastoral poetry in the first half of the third century BC. These vignettes of country life, which center on competitions of song and love are the foundational poems of the western pastoral tradition. They were the principal model for Virgil in the Eclogues and their influence can be seen in the work of Petrarch and Milton. Although it is the pastoral poems for which he is chiefly famous, Theocritus also wrote hymns to the gods, brilliant mime depictions of everyday life, short narrative epics, epigrams, and encomia of the powerful. The great variety of his poems illustrates the rich and flourishing poetic culture of what was a golden age of Greek poetry.
Based on the original Greek text, this accurate and fluent translation is the only edition of the complete Idylls currently in print. It includes an accessible introduction by Richard Hunter that describes what is known of Theocritus, the poetic tradition and Theocritus' innovations and what exactly is meant by "bucolic" poetry.

About the Author

Anthony Verity is Formerly Headmaster of Leeds Grammar School and Master of Dulwich College. Richard Hunter is Regius Professor of Greek, University of Cambridge.