The Nature of Early Greek Lyric by Robert L. Fowler (review)

HUMANITIES 99 Humanities Robert L. Fowler. The Nature of Early Greek Lyric Phoenix Supplementary Volumes 21. University of Toronto Press. xii, 147· $35.00 Fowler's book has three chapters. In the first and longest, 'Homer and the Lyric Poets,' he deals with the influence of Homer on the lyric poets of the seventh and sixth centuries, stopping short of Pindar and Bacchylides. His target is the slovenly use of the concept of 'imitation'; by his rigorous examination of the relevant passages he reaches the conclusion that 'many more passages have been claimed as imitations of epic than can be proved' (33): only a handful of passages, such as A1caeus 347, presuppose precise recollection of earlier verse, echoes being due simply to general recollection: the lyric poets did not compose with a text of Homer before them, but had assimilated the language of epic unconsciously and used it above all to elevate the tone of a passage. Fowler takes well-judged aim at other targets also, especially the Frankel-Snell use of these poets to construct the Geistesgeschichte of the period, and the imprecision with which the term 'formula' has been used. The views of Hermann Frankel provide a starting-point for the second chapter also, 'The Organization of a Lyric Poem.' Fowler takes issue with the idea that the archaic poets because of their primitive mentality composed poems without coherent structure, and demonstrates that these poets used many devices to organize their material: ring-composition , antithesis and parallelism, headings, and chronological order. It all seems so obvious once it has been said, but no other scholarhad taken the trouble to say it. Fowler's longer analyses of the poems often provide challenging interpretations, e.g. in the case of Sappho 44 (67), Sappho 96 (68f£), Alcman 1 (70f£). In his third chapter, 'Elegy and the Genres of Archaic Greece,' Fowler tackles the definition of elegy, examines other genres and concludes that elegy is not a true genre: it is 'merely something an Ionian composed on occasions when he had something to say in poetry.' This contribution will certainly keep the debate alive: it is a pity that Fowler could not take into account the latest study of the question by another young Oxonian, E.L. Bowie (JHS 106, 1986), with D.M. Lewis's footnote (JHS 107, 1987). The chapter, the most densely packed of the three, has interesting things to say on the hymn, citharody and aulody, and the epinician. Fowler's book is an admirable piece of work, often highly original, and written with great clarity and gusto; his criticisms of earlier scholarship are telling, .and yet as acid-free as the paper on which they are printed. The University ofToronto Press deserves praise for the fine appearance of the book. I found scarcely any typographical errors; on page 44 a Greek word has fallen out of line 4 and the lineation that follows is clumsy. (DAVID A. CAMPBELL) ...