Browsing by Author "Williams, Hamish"

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    To what extent does Horace present a coherent præceptor persona in the Ars poetica?
    (2011) Williams, Hamish
    In the ensuing dissertation I explore the extent to which a coherent praeceptor persona may be found in Horace's Ars Poetica. In the first chapter, 'Interpreting the Ars Poetica', I commence by reviewing and commenting upon previous critical attempts to explain Horace's poem. This I have divided into three main sections: 'Interpretations of Incoherence', 'Interpretations of Coherence', and 'Authorial Personae'. In the first of these I explore how some critics have denied the possibility of arriving at a coherent interpretation of the poem, which they regard as an unfinished hotchpotch effort. Most notably in this section I illustrate how the Ars Poetica fails to conform to the expected form of any one particular literary genre. In the second section, 'Interpretations of Coherence', I examine attempts, particularly Brink's in his Prolegomena, to structure the poem into certain fixed aesthetic units, and I then explore some of the difficulties of utilizing such rigorous and tendentious rubrics in a flexible and free-flowing poem. Lastly, in the third section, 'Authorial Personae', I review more modern attempts to explain Horace's poem through the identification of an authorial persona within the text. I proceed to justify my preference for this interpretative method by explaining it both with reference to modern literary theory and ancient poetic and dramatic practice. Lastly, in this chapter I briefly introduce the character of the authorial persona whom I shall endeavour to locate in the Ars Poetica – the teacher or praeceptor persona. In the second chapter, 'The Praeceptor Persona in Play', I commence by trying to build a characteristically Horatian concept of the teacher figure in the Ars Poetica, in my section, 'The Horatian Concept of the Praeceptor'. To this end I turn to the Satires of Horace, particularly, 1.1, 1.4, and 1.10, where I show that the Horatian model of a praeceptor can be explained through three conceptual criteria – 'instruction ', 'demonstration', and 'play'. Applying in turn each of these three conceptual criteria to the text of the Ars Poetica I illustrate how the very language of the authorial persona of the poem fulfils these criteria. In the third chapter, 'The Teacher of Satire 1.4 ', having established the presence of a Praeceptor persona in the Ars Poetica, I turn my attention to the Satires of Horace where the most extensive critical work has been undertaken with respect to the character of the authorial persona; particularly, since it has informed my concept of the Horatian praeceptor, I examine the teacher figure of Satire 1.4. In the first section, 'Interpretations of the Teacher Persona', I examine and criticise four scholarly attempts to explain the character of the teacher figure in the sermo. I identify the mixture of instruction and humour in the language as the key critical concern of these critics. In the final section, 'The Playful Satirist' I then apply my conceptual criterion of 'play' to the discourse of the teacher of 1.4, suggesting that his humour is not incompatible with instruction, but is actually a vital constituent of his role as a praeceptor. Finally, I give a brief 'Epilogue', summarising my analysis and, more importantly, emphasising the importance of identifying a characteristically Horatian model of a praeceptor. A detailed bibliography is then given of the source material consulted and references used through the dissertation.
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    The typical and connotative character of Xeinoi situations across the Apologue: Three studies in repetition
    (2017) Williams, Hamish; Chandler, Clive
    This dissertation engages in a close reading and analysis of the Apologue of Homer's Odyssey; specifically, I am concerned with characterizing the nature of xeinoi situations or interactions in these books - that is, the relationship between the Ithacan travellers and the various inhabitants whom they encounter in these four books. There is a significant amount of scholarship on the nature of these encounters in the Apologue, and as my first chapter explores, many of these are often hinged upon certain polarities: hospitality versus inhospitality, civilized versus savage, masculine versus feminine. My study is greatly indebted to these; however, this dissertation explores new avenues of interpreting these encounters. I have adopted an approach to the Odyssey, which is based upon the importance of repetitions and their connotations, what has been termed 'traditional referentiality'. The Homeric poems are defined by an aesthetic of repetition: certain 'units' (which may be isolated words, phrases, actions, scenes, etc.) are given prominence in the narrative through their frequency; when these units are examined with respect to their contexts, the particular units gain associative or 'connotative' meaning from their implementation. In my second, third, and fourth chapters, I explore how the xeinoi situations in the Apologue are pervaded by certain typical units - namely, (i) mountains, (ii) acts of eating, and (iii) acts of trickery - and then, importantly, how these units garner connotative senses of, respectively, (i) isolation, (ii) danger, and (iii) success, which characterize the relationships in these four books. While some of these typical units have received scholarly treatment in the Odyssey as a whole, their specific importance to the Apologue has not been studied extensively, nor have the connotative resonances of these repeated units been fully explored. The importance of these connotations is elaborated on in the conclusion, where I examine how the meaning derived from these xeinoi encounters interplays with the surrounding story of the Odyssey.