Parabasis
In
Structure
A parabasis usually consists of three songs (S) alternating with three speeches (s) (or recitatives) in the order S-s-S-s-S-s. The first speech, or parabasis proper - generally in anapaest[3] - often ends with a passage which is to be rattled off very quickly (theoretically in one breath - called a πνῖγος – pnigos).
Examples
- In The Knights, we find Aristophanes offers a survey of the Athenian comic tradition,[4] thereby enhancing his own role: “if one of the old comic poets had tried to force us Knights to address the public in the parabasis he wouldn’t have got away with so lightly. But this time the poet is worthy...”.[5]
- In the play The Wasps by the same author, the first parabasis is about Aristophanes' career as a playwright to date; while the second parabasis is shorter, and contains a string of in-jokes about local characters who would be well known to the ancient Athenian audience (e.g. the politician Cleon).[6]
Authorial voice
The chorus in the parabasis sometimes uses its own voice, sometimes that of the play's author, to address the audience.
Decline
The parabasis is exclusively a feature of Old Comedy, and its decline can be charted in the plays of Aristophanes. The second parabasis is gradually abandoned, the chorus ceases to speak out of character in the parabasis itself, and finally the latter is abandoned altogether.[10]
Where the diminishment in the role of the chorus was traditionally linked to the financial pressures of wartime,
See also
References
- ^ J E Sandys ed., A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (London 1891) p. 458
- ^ S Halliwell ed., Birds and Other Plays (Oxford 1998) p. xxxvi
- ^ S Halliwell ed., Birds and Other Plays (Oxford 1998) p. xxxvi-vii
- ^ S Halliwell ed., Birds and Other Plays (Oxford 1998) p. xi
- ^ Aristophanes, quoted in C Russo, Aristophanes (London 1994) p. 125
- ^ Miles, Sarah (2017). 'Cultured animals and wild humans? Talking with the animals in Aristophanes' Wasps.', in Interactions between animals and humans in Graeco-Roman antiquity. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 221.
- ^ J Boardman ed., The Oxford History of the Classical World (Oxford 1986) p. 174
- ^ N Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton 1971) p. 177
- ^ S Halliwell ed., Birds and Other Plays (Oxford 1998) p. xliv
- ^ S Halliwell ed., Birds and Other Plays (Oxford 1998) p. xxxvii-ix
- ^ J E Sandys ed., A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (London 1891) p. 152
- ^ S Halliwell ed., Birds and Other Plays (Oxford 1998) p. xxxix
Further reading
- Aristotle, Poetics.
- Feder, Lillian, The Handbook of Classical Literature, (uniform title: Meridian Handbook of Classical Literature), New York : Da Capo Press, 1998. ISBN 0-306-80880-3. Cf. especially the articles on "Comedy", "The Clouds", pp.100-105.
- Freund, Philip, The Birth of Theatre, London : Peter Owen, 2003. ISBN 0-7206-1170-9. Cf. Chapter 6, Greek Laughter
- Gassner, John, and Quinn, Edward, [editors], The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama, New York, Crowell, 1969. Cf. article on "Comedy", p.140
- Harsh, Philip Whaley, A Handbook of Classical Drama, Stanford University, Calif., Stanford university press; London, H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1944. Cf. Chapter V, Introduction to Old Comedy.
- Harsh, Philip Whaley, The Position of the Parabasis in the Plays of Aristophanes, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 65, (1934), pp. 178–197, The Johns Hopkins University Press
External links
- Early Greek Comedy - Mark Damen, Utah State University