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The Principles of Greek Literary Criticism

The Principles of Greek Literary Criticism THE PRINCIPLES OF GREEK LITERARY CRITICISM*) BY W. J. VERDENIUS I. Introduction There are two ways of studying Greek literary criticism. One way is to arrange the reflections of the Greeks on literature according to their temporal succession and to trace their develop- ment. This method has been adopted, for instance, by Atkins in his work Literary Criticism in Antiquity. In his Preface he declares that he will try "to approach the critical activities of antiquity from a pure- ly historical standpoint, to view them, that is, as one continuous and unbroken movement"'). There can be no doubt that such a purely historical approach has obvious advantages, especially that of throwing light upon the changes of thought and the stages of its development. But there is also a disadvantage: while concentrating on the evolutional aspect of ancient thought we may easily loose sight of its permanent traits. Greek literary criticism turned on a limited number of fundamental problems, and the answers, in spite of their variations, were mostly inspired by an equally limited number of general tendencies. These tendencies may be called the principles of Greek literary criticism, although we must not expect them to manifest themselves always and http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Mnemosyne Brill

The Principles of Greek Literary Criticism

Verdenius, W.J.
Mnemosyne , Volume 36 (1-2): 46 – Jan 1, 1983
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0026-7074
eISSN
1568-525X
DOI
10.1163/156852583x00034
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE PRINCIPLES OF GREEK LITERARY CRITICISM*) BY W. J. VERDENIUS I. Introduction There are two ways of studying Greek literary criticism. One way is to arrange the reflections of the Greeks on literature according to their temporal succession and to trace their develop- ment. This method has been adopted, for instance, by Atkins in his work Literary Criticism in Antiquity. In his Preface he declares that he will try "to approach the critical activities of antiquity from a pure- ly historical standpoint, to view them, that is, as one continuous and unbroken movement"'). There can be no doubt that such a purely historical approach has obvious advantages, especially that of throwing light upon the changes of thought and the stages of its development. But there is also a disadvantage: while concentrating on the evolutional aspect of ancient thought we may easily loose sight of its permanent traits. Greek literary criticism turned on a limited number of fundamental problems, and the answers, in spite of their variations, were mostly inspired by an equally limited number of general tendencies. These tendencies may be called the principles of Greek literary criticism, although we must not expect them to manifest themselves always and

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Mnemosyne – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1983

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