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This paper analyses the discourse structure of the language of the timpani (a single-membrane goblet-shaped drum) of the Dagomba. Using data from video recordings of predawn performances and interviews with the drummers, it shows that the timpani performance is an elaborate and structured narrative discourse that blends panegyrics, prayers and exhortations directed at chiefs, citizens, spiritual and historical beings. The use of the timpani is a borrowed tradition from the Asante in the 1700s, along with many aspects of Asante cultural communication, including Akan as a dominant language of encoding. During its centuries of adaptation, it has incorporated aspects of the culture of the Dagomba, including the production of speech in Dagbani during lengthy performances, making it a unique bilingual talking drum. The paper shows that this instrumentally encoded bilingual narrative exhibits the discourse properties of oral or written text and can be subjected to the same formal discourse analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses an addresse-less encomium devoted to Emperor Constantine X Doukas and authored by Michael Psellus, one of the most learned individuals in Byzantine history. The purpose of this paper is to place the encomium, a valuable testament of Byzantine cultural heritage, within the context of the empire's eleventh century political and social history, and to translate the document into modern English accompanied by scholarly commentary. Additionally, this paper will analyze the representation of the emperor in the speech through a comparative analysis of the encomium and Psellus' historiographical work, the Chronographia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A close reading of two poetical sources provides new data on the reforms of the fiscal schedule of the Abbasid state in the ninth century. This paper reconstructs the calendrical complications in those Abbasid regions that followed Iranian administrative tradition and its solar calendar without intercalations. Two reforms were issued under al-Mutawakkil and al-Muʿtaḍid to correct the fiscal schedule of these regions. A panegyric by al-Buḥturī allows us to confirm and contextualize al-Mutawakkil's reform in the final years of his caliphate. A few verses by Ibn al-Muʿtazz give a significant description of the close connection between al-Muʿtaḍid's reform of the Iranian New-Year's day and the construction of his public figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Chinese culture, the honor of textual immortality was traditionally reserved for a select, extraordinary few. As Martin Huang points out, however, the Ming-Qing era witnessed a general "secularization" process in which eulogistic writings were increasingly dedicated to women who lived relatively "trivial" lives. Building on Huang's insights, this paper examines another important evolution within this genre of secularized elegies dedicated to women: the simultaneous sacralizing of deceased mothers by filial sons writing their mothers' lives as hagiography. As these authors energetically extolled their mothers' religious piety and identified them with Bodhisattvas/deities, the hitherto lackluster biographies became saturated with supernatural occurrences and miraculous events. Transformed into cultural and emotional sites where ordinary women could be commemorated, immortalized, and apotheosized, these otherwise insignificant life stories evoked a kind of textual memorial temple. Such infusions of spirituality into the writing of Confucian mourning both signal and fuel the broader penetration of heterodox worship (Buddhism) into Confucian society. This practice also allows a glimpse into important gender dimensions in the religious syncretism and secularism of late imperial China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Respectus Philologicus is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the marginalized writing career of David Manisi, a rural south African praise poet who published and performed in Xhosa between 1947 and 1988. Although Xhosa newspapers had produced an illustrious tradition of written praise poetry, by the mid-1950s Manisi found his terms of address compromised by the official discourses of apartheid and his chances of reaching an adult, educated readership greatly reduced. The paper discusses his writing in the context of the diminishing opportunities available to poets who wished to publish in African languages, and argues that Manisi continued to write books, despite his failure to reach audiences, in the hope of finding future readers. It discusses, with reference to several of Manisi's newspaper and book poems, the special adaptability of praise poetry (a performance genre) to print media. The paper shows how the poet's conception of print media changed in response to his constraining political and publishing context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews ten historical-literary Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew works written late in the Second World War in Morocco: eight works I refer to as praise poems, by Moroccan Jews; one work I refer to as lament, written by a Jewish European refugee who found a safe wartime haven in Morocco, and another work, which I refer to as a utopian treatise, by a local Jewish man. All ten works were inspired by the war and recount its course in Europe, Asia and North Africa, while some also engage with the Holocaust. The comparison drawn here between the works - praise poetry, lament and utopian treatise - allows us to examine the authors’ various outlooks on the war, informed by their personal, familial or communal experience. These outlooks assume an actual form in the literary patterns of the authors’ works, as well as in the narratives, contents and ideas selected to feature in them. The reception varied among the Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew speaking community, in which a Jewish religious and modern national presence was predominant. Therefore, contents that had a universal concern were pushed to the margins of the local discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces tha Academia devota, poético sagrado certamen, a poetic panegyric hagiography of St. Peter of Verona, also known as St. Peter Martyr. Composed in Mexico in 1715 and 1739 but not published until 1740 in Manila, it is the work of Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio and his nephew Ñuño. Because this collection is unknown, this paper examines the circumstances of its composition and publication in order to place it in its appropriate context. The paper explores the Academia devoids use of multiple meters as a narrative and poetic technique to increase devotion to St. Peter’s cult and as a way for the authors to exhibit their poetic skill. It discusses the term “ludic” as used by Johan Huizinga as a more fitting theoretical approach to late Baroque poetry, especially the so-called poetry of ingenio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has two aims: one is to publish a critical edition of an early humanistic poem, the other is to explain the circumstances in which it was written. The study engages the traditional methods of textual criticism. The author analyses several sources, among them is manuscript 802 preserved in the Kórnik Library, which contains the poem. In the first part the paper deals with the biography of Jacob of Sienno (Jakub z Sienna, 1413-1480), a diplomat, a politician, the bishop of Kujawy and next the archbishop of Gniezno. He was born in an noble family, studied in Rome and in the mid 1430's pursued his ecclesiastical and political career. He returned to Italy many times, both as a royal diplomat and a political refugee during his conflict with king Casimir IV Jagiellon. The author stresses the fact that in his Italian journeys he must have come in contact with the early Humanistic culture, which is proven for instance by his collection of Renaissance decorated books acquired in Italy. In the second part the author reveals the circumstances in which the poem was written. The deliberations here touch upon the problem of authorship. Although some researchers conjectured that the author might have been Leonardo Mansueti (1414-1480), the Master General of the Dominican Order and Jacob's friend, a hypothesis that an anonymous Cracow scholar would have been the grateful poet is more convincing. The author mentions a long-standing relationship between Jacob and the University of Cracow. As a patron of the university the bishop made it a gift of his library. The third part contains analysis of the text. The poet drew a picture of a bishop: a good shepherd and a wise statesman devoted to the country. To construct such a figure, typical for Renaissance literature in the next century, he employed classical rhetoric, astrology and especially the Stoic philosophy. The analysis leads to the conclusion that To Jacob of Sienno could be one of the first Humanistic panegyrics in Poland. It can be considered a result of Jacob's patronage of literature and fine arts. At the end the author asserts that the bishop courts in Poland in the 15th century were important centres of Humanistic culture, among them Jacob's court. Future research on this topic can shed new light on the beginnings of the Renaissance in Poland. Additionally, the paper provides a critical edition of the Latin text and its Polish translation with commentaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graft and corruption have become endemic and insidious in the Nigerian society that governance and leadership have continued to lack integrity and legitimacy. Femi Osofisan, a dedicated and committed apostle of change and social justice, has skilfully utilized the platform of drama to expose and ridicule the prevalence, pervasiveness and debilitating effects of graft and corruption as social vices in Nigeria. Following the tradition of African Drama's commitment to social issues, Osofisan berates all the tiers of government and the public office holders for the country's economic woes and the general poverty level of Nigerians. The concern of this paper is, therefore, an intense sociological exploration of Osofisan's plays that satirize and lampoon the seemingly legalized practice of bribery and corruption in Nigeria. A contextual and theoretical framework is provided for the paper to enable readers to have a clear conceptual understanding of the discourse. The paper also balances the pejorative and optimistic views of Osofisan on a decadent society. It concludes with his encomiums on those who have remained resolute and unwavering and his prognosis that the society will become better when such distinguished men and women are emulated and celebrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 'genealogical' passage of the 'Encomium' of Ptolemy Philadelphus Theocritus several times calls upon Heracles as the ancestor of both the Argead and Lagid dynasties, and surprisingly for his time recalls the mature image of the hero when portraying him. The present paper attempts at the interpretation of this passage in the context of the representations of Heracles in the art of the 4th century BC and the early Hellenistic age, and the assimilation of Alexander with his mythical ancestor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fallout between Jerome (Bethlehem) and Rufinus and Melania the Elder (Mount of Olives) is well-documented. Previously unnoticed, however, are the unusual geographical and exegetical distortions that occur in Jerome's treatment of the Mount of Olives material in his encomium of Paula {Epistula 108), written in 404. This paper exposes Jeromes singular treatment of the Mount of Olives by interrogating the text's respective images of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Olives. While a definitive link cannot be established, the paper questions the possible influence which the estranged relationship between Jerome and his former colleagues on the Mount of Olives may have had upon the relevant sections of Jerome's encomium of Paula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The institution of Sòókò is important to the social and political arrangement in Ife land in the western part of Nigeria. This paper investigates the complexity and the ironic nature of the institution and title of Sòókò in the praise poetry in Ife land. The data for the paper were gathered through various modes of interviews with the major traditional chiefs, princes, princesses as well as traditional poets in Ile-Ife and other parts of Ife land. Data collected were analyzed using sociological theory. The paper found out that the complexity of Sòókò can be located in its multi-meanings in which it can refer to a group, individual, mere appellation, chieftaincy title or royal panegyric. It also found out that the ironic nature of Sòókò is conveyed by the fact that while it is compulsory for an elected Ooni (the paramount traditional ruler of Ife land) to be installed as Sòókò before ascending the throne, a fullfledged Sòókò chief is not likely to become an Ooni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spring of 1606, less than two years before becoming a Barbary Coast pirate and converting to Islam, Sir Francis Verney wrote a lengthy panegyric poem that he dedicated to Secretary of State Robert Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury. Written entirely in heroic couplets, the poem celebrates Roman republican heroes, praises Cecil, and expounds upon the subjects of masculinity, law, politics, court culture, and war. As a cultural artifact, Verney's poem provides a new dimension to our understanding of one of early modern England's most infamous "renegade" aristocrats. This essay accompanies an uncorrected transcription of the sole extant manuscript of the poem-the fair copy Verney likely presented to Cecil and residing today in the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House. This reproduction of the poem is accompanied by an introduction dating and describing the manuscript along with notes explaining corrections in the copy and glossing references and allusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to highlight some issues raised by Soyinka in an adulatory composition, public tribute (Mandela's Earth and Other Poems) to Nelson Mandela and the gains arising thereof for progressive leadership in Africa. The text is handled as a political poem, since it celebrates the anti-apartheid, and a psychic weapon for fostering 'African brotherhood.' Four Yoruba poetic forms (Owe, Alo Apamo, Oriki and Ofo) and their rhetorical strategies in creative translation are examined and adopted along with functional linguistic stylistic model as theoretical framework. Seventeen excerpts are then quoted in situ and analysed within the extra linguistic context of Vintage Mandela's death and continuing adulation. It concludes that Yoruba rhetoric adopted and integrated into EL2 expression are signals of an expressive compromise which by the poet's mature handling of cultural and linguistic translatability communicates only as effectively as possible while revealing the limits of translation. On misrule and transformative democracy in Africa, it advocates urgent election of able and sincere leaders to show how much of the Mandela-gainfrom- pain lessons can help to liberate Africa from the ills of misrule: hunger, chronic poverty, disease, ignorance, avoidable wars, pseudo democracy, other forms of injustices and terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giuseppe Betussi's Imagini del tempio della signora donna Giovanna Aragona (1556) offers a privileged insight into the inner workings of encomium as a crucial self-authorizing experience in Renaissance culture. In this perspective, the paper focuses on: a) the strategic blending of literary genres as a response to the tensions of a challenging editorial market; b) the pivotal role of figurative metaphors in the self-depiction of celebrative texts and their connection with the memorial and allegorical dimensions; and c) the multiplication of textual voices and layers as a means of staging celebration itself as an ongoing performance, combining monumental accomplishment and verbal dynamism. It considers the question of why Betussi seemingly connects a small corpus of lyric texts (the sonnets quoted in the Imagini) to a major collection (Ruscelli's 1554 Tempio alla divina signora Giovanna d'Aragona) by means of a dialogue between Truth and Fame and proposes that the figure of Truth enables Betussi to modulate one single voice from the apparent interaction of many, ultimately building on well-established collective models to create a solo encomiastic anthology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a vocalised edition (on the basis of MS T.-S. Misc. 36.174, Cambridge University Library) and a revised translation of a Hebrew ode written on the occasion of the Fāṭimid victory over the invading Saljūq army in Cairo in 469/1077. Elaborating on earlier research on the Cairo Genizah treasures starting with Julius H. Greenstone's 1906 paper, the article first of all aims to present whatever historical data can be obtained about the poet, Solomon ben Joseph ha-Kohen, and about the time period and the circumstances in which he must have written his poem, which is addressed to the Fāṭimid caliph al-Mustanṣir Billāh and his vizier Badr al-Jamālī. Other major objectives of the article are the identification of other historical persons and events alluded to in the praise poem, a literary analysis of the ode within the conceptual framework of “martial poetry”, and an examination of its laudatory or propagandistic aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary biographies of influential and prolific Western authors have glutted the publishing market since James Boswell wrote his panegyric tome in the 18th century hailing his mentor and colleague, Dr. Samuel Johnson. Conversely, there is a disappointing dearth of such biographies of African writers. Even though the culture promotes praise singers who act as community bards, offering eloquent oratories of renowned leaders, there are few books interrogating the life and works of prominent African authors. It seems that only the shining stars of the literary world, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong'O, Wole Soyinka and Esk'ia Mphahlele, have been memorialized in print. In particular, it is rare that the African woman writer has received special consideration for her literary accomplishments. This paper will examine the importance of literary biographies, explore the current publication of such works addressing the literary life of African authors, as well as represent the literary biography of Sindiwe Magona that I have just published. Additionally, it will encourage the authorial community to consider this important field of research and publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Chilena de Literatura is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofia y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we analyse Lucian of Samosata's dialogue Eikones, considering it from the perspective of its inscription in the tradition of encomium and one of its topoi, the comparison between the power of visual arts and of words to create commemorative images, a comparison which in turn frequently contains self-reflexive considerations about the poem's or discourse's qualities. Taking into account the particular context in which Lucian is located, that is, the "Second Sophistic" under Roman rule during the second century A. D., and some of the particular features exhibited by his production, we propose that the creation of an "encomiastic portrait" in this dialogue emphasizes the self-reflexive dimension implied in the tradition of encomium. Through this emphasis, on the one hand the dialogue establishes continuity with the classical tradition of encomium and the comparison of the arts' topos, inscribing its author in the Greek classical paideia. On the other hand, it simultaneously defines a poetic stance which departs from the mimetic conception of arts characteristic of the classical period, and still dominant at Lucian's time, and proposes literary creation as a discoursive construction, whose main referents are intertextual and intercultural. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the presence of elements of invective (ψγος;) in the Dionysiaca by Nonnus of Panopolis, who follows in general terms the structure of the βασιλικς; λγος; or imperial encomium. It contends that Nonnus uses invective to balance the panegyric and mock the genre in which he works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines traditional and innovating elements in a praise performance organized by a hereditary bard in 2002 for a twenty-year-old from a prominent family in Segu (Mali). It shows the importance of a detailed knowledge of the youth's network of social relationships for understanding the oral text. Special attention is given to the circumstances that led to the composition of a praise song for so young a person (a most unusual event), to its implicit and explicit views on familial and other interpersonal relationships, and to the articulation of images and references drawn from the older oral literature, including the Segu epic, with ones grounded in twentieth-century social experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts a description, using Lestrade's framework, of Subiya oral literature by identifying some of its constituent parts such as fables, praise poems, indigenous songs, proverbs, idioms and provocative similes. From this preliminary survey it is evident that SeSubiya possesses a corpus of literature that needs further study. The paper concludes by recommending further investigation so as to record and identify other aspects not included here. This paper is therefore a contribution to the larger and on-going project of recording and studying Subiya oral literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues against the tendency to interpret Gorgias' view of logos as a techne of persuasion which relies on opinion (doxa) and rests on deception either deliberately or incidentally in order to function. Rather, Gorgias appears to be making a connection between truthful speech (alethes logos) and correct speech (orthos logos). Gorgias' insistence on correctness of speech surfaces not only in the Encomium of Helen, but also in the Funeral Oration fragment and in Agathon's parody of Gorgianic rhetoric in Plato's Symposium. Correct speech goes beyond the effectiveness of language and into the domain of ethical correctness and responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Native Studies is the property of Brandon University, CJNS, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Andrew Marvell's Miscellaneous Poems (1681) is a puzzling folio. While the title page announces Marvell's parliamentary credentials, its political intent was blunted by the cancellation of the poems on Cromwell from all but two known copies. The signs of this abridgement at press are obvious. What the strange appearance of the folio combined with the removal of the Cromwell poems might mean for our understanding of Miscellaneous Poems has received a good deal of scholarly attention. Most scholars agree that the deletion of the Cromwell poems was an act of self-censorship on the part of the publisher, Robert Boulter, either for financial reasons or because Boulter hesitated at the political consequences of making panegyrics on Cromwell public. Critics argue that the two surviving copies containing the Cromwell poems somehow evaded the process of cancellation. This essay argues that these existing theories are flawed. New bibliographic evidence proves that the Cromwell poems survived for reasons at odds with current assumptions. And tracing Boulter in state papers, newsletters, treatises, and probate and parish records reveals a deeply partisan man unlikely to baulk at the publication of Cromwell memorabilia. Examining newly discovered records about Boulter together with the bibliographical evidence, this essay considers the motivations underlying the publication of the folio and challenges how we view the censorship of Miscellaneous Poems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the available evidence of meetings between Goethe and the travel writer and landscape gardener Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871), including Pückler’s unpublished account of one of them, and charts their correspondence. Goethe thought Pückler’sBriefe eines Verstorbenendepicted an ideal art of living, and his laudatory review assisted the prince’s rise to literary fame, not least in Great Britain, where critical responses to the review shed light on contemporary British attitudes to Goethe.Briefe eines Verstorbenenalso inspired some scenes inFaust II, and to a greater extent than hitherto recognized. For his part, Pückler was a lifelong admirer of Goethe, and his approach to his work as a park designer was imbued with Goethean principles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Robert Rauschenberg is not usually thought to have had much contact with Surrealism and even spoke openly about his disdain for the movement on some occasions. However, through the period 1958–69, the Surrealists showed great enthusiasm for the 'poetic', 'metaphorical' resonance of Rauschenberg's work, a positive response that has since largely been lost. In place of that history, the interpretation of Rauschenberg by John Cage as a 'literalist' or 'factualist' gained ground and even came to define the artist's œuvre in some quarters, a reading that Rauschenberg himself approved. Caught in the middle of these two versions of Rauschenberg are the largely untranslated texts of French poet, critic, and ex-Surrealist Alain Jouffroy (1928–2015), which form the substance of this article. Jouffroy pioneered the positive critical reception of Rauschenberg in France from 1961 while he continued to be influenced by his Surrealist past, to the point that his writings on Rauschenberg reveal consistent contradiction under close reading. The highest point of tension was reached across 1963–64 when Jouffroy wrote eulogistic poems devoted to Rauschenberg's massive silkscreen painting Barge (1962–63) and to Surrealism in L'Antichambre de la nature (1966, written in 1964), alongside key texts of art criticism on Rauschenberg. Culminating in an analysis of the silkscreen and poems, this article argues that while Jouffroy's writings seem ostensibly to further the Cagean interpretation of the artist, they are riven by an awkward dual loyalty that can be read in support of a 'poetic' 'Surrealist Rauschenberg'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyzed some issues about the notion of utility of the humanities. Is the thinking not attached to an immediate utilitarianism synonym of inutility? To answer this question, we present some historical aspects that found the automatic link between utility and sciences and the devaluation of the subjects that do not produce an immediate product. This is not a manifest against the hard sciences or a panegyric to humanities. These are just some reflections that reshape the issue of the humanity studies as an integrant part of the contemporary knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper deals with manuscripts and books of Aleš Žiga Dolničar and other members of the Baroque Academia operosorum (Academy of the Industrious) in the Seminary Library in Ljubljana, related to the Republic of Venice. Especially it examines the prints that influenced Dolničar's manuscript Descriptio nobilissimae urbis Venetiae (1703), including description of a travel from Gorizia to Venice, panegyric on Venice, descriptions of some important churches, and lots of drawings. At the end it reconstructs his relations with political, religious, and artistic heritage of the Serenissima. Methodology/approach: The historical method, based on a critical source study. Results: New findings about Aleš Žiga Dolničar and the Academia operosorum established throughout the study of up till now unresearched sources. Research limitation: Manuscripts and books in the Seminary Library in Ljubljana. Originality/practical implications: Original contribution to the history of Baroque culture in Carniola. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Ross (bap. 1620-75) was the first to translate Silius Italicus' epic poem Punica into English. The first edition of The Second Punick War Between Hannibal, and the Romanes: The whole Seventeen Books, Englished from the Latine of Silius Italicus: With A Continuation from the Triumph of Scipio, To the Death of Hannibal appeared in 1661. A second and slightly altered edition was issued in 1672. Ross, an active participant in the intrigues plotted to restore the monarchy, was part of Charles's entourage when the latter established his court in Bruges in 1656. His translation is amongst other things a royalist response to the English Civil Wars. Ross's choice of source text, his dedicatory epistle to Charles II written in Bruges in the fall of 1657, his prefatory poem 'To the King' as well as his collaboration with the Antwerp graphic artist Jozef Lamorlet (1626-c.1681), mark this long-neglected epic as a product of the English involvement in intellectual life on the continent in the mid-seventeenth century. With each of its numerous 'dramatic' engravings dedicated to distinguished supporters of the royal cause, The Second Punick War moreover illustrates how word and image were made to serve monarchic ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Kuria praise poetry from a prosodic point of view. It argues that though the poem is delivered at great speed, it follows well laid out rhythmic patterns. Further, it claims that the poem is fundamentally a syllabic verse, that is, a verse in which syllable count is the main organizational strategy. The main finding is that the poem under analysis is octosyllabic (i.e. has eight syllable lines). The study shows that phonology and prosody play a role in the production of eight syllable lines. Since poetry uses language as its building blocks, the study looks at some compulsory phonological rules of the Kuria language which apply to the poem. These are followed by the application of optional prosodic rules. The selective application of the prosodic rules creates a poetic system from ordinary language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article questions the traditional perceptions and revisionist reinterpretations of Cho Ki-ch'ŏn, a Soviet Korean poet and literary official who played a special role in early North Korean history. The article analyzes the figure of Cho in the historical context of the epoch, adds some previously unknown data, and reflects on Cho Ki-ch'ŏn's legacy and impact on the North Korean literary world. The argument is largely based on information from new primary sources (Cho's personal dossier, his letters, private papers, interviews with the poet's friends and relatives) and an analysis of the original texts of his works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay offers a codicological analysis of three manuscripts—Bühler 70a (Ms. 7089), Bühler 70b (Ms. 7304) and Bühler 70c (Ms. 7303)—of the British Library, which contain some panegyrics composed by Rudra Kavi (fl. 1570s–1650s). Based on a critical appraisal of handwriting, colophons, watermark and other textual attributes, this essay shows that the three Bühler manuscripts constitute a composite volume of an incomplete anthology of Rudra's panegyric poems. Furthermore, it corroborates how deftly and faithfully all three manuscripts were copied by just one scribe sometime between 1840 and 1880. His exemplar, however, was a draft edition of a few unfinished panegyrics that the poet had been composing simultaneously in praise of some prominent members of the Mughal elite. These findings about the material production and reception history of the Bühler manuscripts illuminate both the craft of an adept scribe and the creative imaginings of a court-poet. For want of a rigorous codicological analysis, previous scholarship has held the scribe responsible for the 'fragmentary' and 'corrupt' condition of these manuscripts and applauded the Brahmin poet for his literary prowess. This essay distances itself from such unwarranted privileging of a court-poet and marginalisation of a skilled scribe. Instead, it seeks codicological and textual evidence in determining the roles played by poets and scribes in the production of literary manuscripts. This essay ultimately reaffirms the value of codicological reflections in the fields of South Asian historiography and literary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an account of Roman imperial cameos as an archaeological category, and argues that the production of large high-quality cameos was more restricted in time than currently allowed; that the controversial dates and subjects of individual cameos need to be set in the wider sequence of the main examples; and that early imperial praise poetry sits in relationship to court cameos in a way that can be usefully investigated around their shared concern to understand the particular character of imperial divinity. An Appendix gives details of forty-one examples illustrated and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I develop a speculative reading of Gorgias's Encomium on Helen that begins from several common assumptions about the work-especially its status as a "pretext" for Gorgias's hidden purposes and its character as a sort of advertisement. Beginning from these common assumptions I propose that the Encomium is appropriately read as an allegorical representation of Athenian political life. By way of this allegory Gorgias was able to advertise his conception of persuasion despite its highly controversial political implications. I refer to Gorgias as a "barbarian" due to the fundamental incompatibility of the model of political persuasion implicit in the Encomium with democratic Athenian political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued (a) that the title "Roman Odes" is a misnomer and should be replaced, (b) that the six odes do not constitute one long, single poem, as has recently been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing generals: the military representation of the child-emperors Gratian and Honorius on coins and in panegyric Between 367 and 455 the Roman empire witnessed a series of children being elevated to the imperial throne. Meaghan McEvoy (2010; 2013) has convincingly shown that in the successive reigns of these child-emperors the imperial office was transformed from being active and military to being far more passive and ceremonial. Powerful generals were to take over the emperor's military functions, while the young ruler came to fulfil an increasingly religious and ceremonial role. This article looks into the early phase of this transformation by investigating how the need for military leadership was dealt with in the cases of the child-emperors Gratian (r. 367-383) and Honorius (r. 393-423). A substantial amount of contemporary source material has survived from their reigns in the form of panegyrics and coinage. A systematic analysis of these sources relating to the various stages of their reigns shows that these emperors still had to live up to traditional expectations, at least in terms of their self-representation, and thus play the part of strong military leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a panegyric can be defined very simply as a speech of praise, it is no longer assumed that praise is also its sole function. What that function might be, however, continues to preoccupy scholarship. Generalisations can be made, but even a nuanced judgement such as 'every encomium is at once a literary work, a moral problem, and a social rite' (Pernot, Epideictic Rhetoric , ix) can be challenged by the particular: 'there is no system and there never was. There is circumstance, preference and ambiguity'. The question is further complicated by the evolution of a rhetoric of praise, related to but independent of the formal panegyric, which came to characterise the literature of Late Antiquity and beyond. The questions, therefore, of what a panegyric is and what it is for are highly relevant to modern scholarship, not only to commentaries but, as is apparent from the books under review, to studies of rhetoric, late antique historiography and the creation of the imperial image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After comments with laudatory and clarifying intent on the Chomskyan revolution, I make some critical remarks on Eörs Szathmáry's views on the evolution of language and its relation to the brain. This is followed by a brief sketch of the theory of one-dimensional syntax in the biolinguistic context, leading to the conclusion that the item-organizing specificity of human language may not be due to a qualitative change in narrow syntactic ability. This unique property may instead be a consequence of the possession of an interpretive module capable of parallel processing of numerous simple onedimensional syntactic structures - which individually have no more configurational complexity than birdsong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the essayist De Quincey in his eassy "On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts " mixes examples from the Bible and Antiquity with murders having taken place not long ago in modern Britain. It mentions the mock-encomium would have been well-known to De Quincey, an accomplished classicist; and also mentions that De Quincey republished the series in volume four of the "Selections Grave and Gay."

Constantine defeated Maxentius and entered Rome in October 312. Perhaps about one year later Eusebius of Caesarea wrote his description of the emperor's victory and arrival in his Ecclesiastical History. His source was most likely a panegyric from Rome, which can be compared to Pacatus's panegyric welcoming Theodosius to Rome in 389. Eusebius added his own Christian gloss to the laudatory evaluation of Constantine and the hostile evaluation of Maxentius in this panegyric. He also misunderstood some details. A consideration of Eusebius's source for this episode is a contribution to assessing the value and context of the information in his Ecclesiastical History and Life of Constantine for the reign of Constantine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article brings into focus the structure and typology of the colophons in the Mongolian translations of texts whose authorship is ascribed to the Buddha himself. Such texts were repeatedly translated into the Mongolian language and highly venerated by believers. As old as Mongolian literature itself, colophons or "concluding words" accompanied the nation's literary canon over a period running from the late thirteenth to the early twentieth century. They are the blocks of textual information that the creator of a text or book, be it a translator, a scribe, or a publisher, regarded as being an important addition to the main text. Despite the diversity of such informative blocks, which include praying formulas, panegyrics, benedictions, cosmological, historical, and quasi-historical accounts, didactic fragments, and so on, the colophons followed a settled template and established quite fixed information and expression spheres, i.e., they only narrate about certain things and use a certain language. This inflexibility of the colophons is explained by their main function - they represent a certain type of paratext forming part of the complex mediation between the book and the reader aimed at ensuring the reception of the translated text as an authoritative and legitimate source of Buddhist wisdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the second half of the last century onwards, the term ‘metalepsis’ has been in common use in the field of narratology, and has gradually found a place in literary criticism more broadly, to denote the transgression of diegetic boundaries, whether by the narrator or the narratee. The present article provides a thorough analysis of the metaleptic depiction of Bion provided by his anonymous eulogist at lines 58–63 of the Epitaph for Bion. This passage describes Galatea’s reaction to Bion’s demise, with the result that the dead poet, who sang of the Cyclops in fr. 16, himself assumes Polyphemus-like traits. However, the parallelism between the poet and his character proves to be imperfect, because the text hints at a past liaison, and describes Galatea’s newly acquired status as a shepherdess, thus presenting Bion as a successful lover, and, more importantly, one who has been successful precisely where the Cyclops failed. The key to reading this ‘antagonistic’ portrayal of Bion is provided by analysis of the hidden web of intertextual connections that lies beneath this passage (Theoc. Idd. 6, 11, Bion frr. 3, 16), which brings to the fore its strong poetological meaning, revealing it to be a poetic tribute through which the anonymous poet celebrates Bion’s achievements as both a bucolic and an amatory poet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An indiscriminately allusive, aggressively intertextual poem, 'A Panegyrick on the Dean, in the Person of a Lady in the North', is both an audacious celebration of Swift's public life in writing and a mock-panegyric that quietly, condescendingly, queries his own continued relevance as a political commentator during his retreat from Dublin. In foolhardily attempting to prolong his career by indoctrinating his 'grateful' young disciple, a confessed hater of books, in building an unseemly outhouse to mark his diminished value in Ireland and in refusing to be bettered by rival satirists, Swift ironically commemorates himself as a mere writer of libels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An obstacle to the appreciation of Shelley’s youthfully rebelliousQueen Mabis its overly polemical and didactic style. What is insufficiently recognized is that Shelley’s approach has a solid literary and philosophical foundation. His fierce ‘diatribes’ against the existing order of things – the endemic and infamous alliance of state, religion and commerce – neither implode the aesthetics of the poem, nor are simply rough-hewn, adolescent invectives against custom and privilege. The composition (including its prolific notes) draws strength from earlier precedents, most notably Lucretius’sDe Rerum Naturawhich markedly influenced the Enlightenment. In the main body of his work (Cantos 2–7), masked by the benign fairy, Queen Mab, Shelley steers a course modulating from castigation to mockery, counterbalancing diatribes with encomia – presented as reverse reflections of each other. Similar to a caricaturist, Shelley decodes and belittles the icons of state power which form a closed circuit of depravity, sealed off from public scrutiny or reform. Although compromised by a vengefulness which the later Shelley disowns, the diatribes ofQueen Mabclear a path towards a better world, pointing to the resonance and vitality of Shelley’s brave intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]