ПРОПАГАНДНА ПОЕТИКА КЛАУДИЈА КЛАУДИЈАНА ПОЕЗИЈА КАО ОРУЂЕ ВЛАСТИ

Imperial panegyrics were considered to be the subject of certain controversy. What was the exact purpose of this genre? Early on, it was dismissed as too flattery, which was a result of the desire to present the perfect image and the fact that this genre could be used and misused; also, the genre was said to depict the "inflated" sense of self worthof those who were written about. From one point of view, which was a little bit more critical, the panegyrics were meant to portray a perfect prince, in the hope that the emperor to whom the panegyric was dedicated would adjust his behavior according to this model. The other writers of this genre saw themselves as some sort of public relations court personnel, and panegyrics as poems created to depict the emperor in a way in which he wanted to be perceived by the commonpeople. All three given motives were often present to a certain degree, which differed from occasion to occasion, but it is also possible that the main role of panegyrics was simply to serve as a part of important public ceremonies, like some sort of a medal or diptych issued during commemorations. In many ways, panegyrics resembled custom-made or pre-ordered musical pieces of our era. Themes that those poems covered were in most cases so conventional (to avoid saying that they were trivial), and remote from anything mundane, so that it is hard to imagine that they were taken seriously either by the emperor or his subjects. The form and manner of presentation were much more important than the content itself. The writers of panegyrics gained wealth, privileges and glory not due to what they were writing about, but due to fulfilling the request for a perfectly formed praise and the skill to present the written. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]