Aristoteles en Horatius, en die liriese gedig

Inaugural lecture--Department of Classical Languages, Rand Afrikaans University, 26 August 1975@@The lyric poem is the most common poetic form in modern literature. Critica attention has therefore focused in'creasingly on this genre since the 19th Century Classical lyric as a genre has received comparatively little theoretical attention in comparison with the great amount of research done on the epic and on drama, especially tragedy. Whereas these genres, for example, receive extended treatment in the Realencyclopadie fiir classische Altertumswissenschaft. lyric is omitted completely, though individual types receive brief attention. Difficulties inherent in the study of especially Greek lyric partly explain this apparent neglect: the physical state of the extant Greek texts, the musical nature of early Greek lyric, and the lack of any ancient blanket term for our 'lyric'. Moreover, the ancient theoretical literature on the lyric is much later than the texts themselves, and in itself fragmentary. The researcher is thus forced to extricate what theory he can from the fragmentary lyric texts themselves. Aristotle and Horace serve as examples. Each in his Ars Poetica deals only briefly and superficially with lyric poetry, while tragedy, epic and comedy receive more specific attention. These two theorists thus add little to the knowledge of lyric poetry we gain from other theorists and the texts themselves. Horace was, however, himself a lyric poet who embodied the 'Classical' lyric in his own Odes. One of his lyrics, Ode 2.20, is therefore examined briefly for what it reveals about Horace's views on and conception of the lyric genre. In this examination attention is especially drawn to 1. the form, 2. the relationship of the poet with society, and 3. the significance of the poetic flight, the central symbol in the poem. In the study of literary texts, Classical philologist and modern literary scientist have much common ground, and inter-disciplinary discussion can only benefit both.