Theocritus: A Selection

Text of eight poems by the third-century BC Greek poet Theocritus with introduction and substantial commentary.

This volume contains the text of eight poems by the third-century BC Greek poet Theocritus, together with an introduction and extensive commentary. This is the first full-scale commentary on the work of Theocritus since Gow's edition of 1950. It makes a major contribution to the understanding of pastoral poetry.This is the first full-scale commentary on poems by Theocritus since Gow's edition of 1950, and the first to exploit the recent revolution in the study of Hellenistic and Roman poetry; the poems included in this volume (Idylls 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 13) are principally the bucolic poems which, through their influence on Virgil, established the Western pastoral tradition. The focus of the commentary is literary - both on how Theocritus exploited the classical heritage for a new type of poetry, and on what that poetry meant in the third century BC. The commentary, together with the introductory essays to each poem, makes a major contribution to the understanding of this extraordinary poetic form. The Introduction explores the meaning of 'bucolic', the presentation of a stylised countryside, the importance of eros in the bucolic world, and Theocritus' verbal and metrical style.