The role of the poet in early societies
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The role of the poet in early societies
D.S. Brewer, 1989
- :pbk
Available at / 16 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
ISBN 9780859912792
Description
Bloomfield and Dunn describe the varying roles which "poets" have historically filled within society, whether ancient, medieval, or pre-modern and identify the key functions of the poet figure. He (or sometimes she) supports theruler and is in turn rewarded for a central service to the tribe; he exercises his authority by an apparently magical understanding of the past, present, and future; and, whenever called upon to perform an official rite, he knowshow to wield the appropriate traditional, esoteric utterances.
In order to illustrate the ways in which this kind of poetic function can be seen to have been exercised in early Irish literature, pre-modern Scottish Gaelic,early Welsh, early Norse and Old English the authors draw on a wide-range of texts. The study concludes with an examination of the implications of their findings for twentieth century readers exploring the utterances of poets remote from them in time or space.
Table of Contents
- The poetic function
- the primal situation - poetry and patronage
- Early Irish culture
- Scottish Gaelic culture
- other early Western European cultures - Welsh, Norse, Old English
- the notion of wisdom
- wisdom genres and types of literature
- primal poetry and the modern audience.
- Volume
-
:pbk ISBN 9780859913478
Description
This study draws on a wide range of texts - early Irish, pre-modern Scottish Gaelic, early Welsh, Early Norse, Old English -to illustrate the role of the poet as a tool of power, as seer, and as ceremonial figure.
Table of Contents
- The poetic function
- the primal situation - poetry and patronage
- Early Irish culture
- Scottish Gaelic culture
- other early Western European cultures - Welsh, Norse, Old English
- the notion of wisdom
- wisdom genres and types of literature
- primal poetry and the modern audience.
by "Nielsen BookData"