Anne Pippin Burnett

This study of early Greek lyric provides portraits of Archilochus, Alcaeus and Sappho and their poetry. It looks at their social setting, and their purposes within it.

Archilochus, Alcaeus, Sappho

Three Archaic Poets

We who live among tired and demystified political institutions are afraid that individuals unrestrained by the influence of the community may resort to crime and violence. Yet in an Attic vengeance play, a treacherous "criminal" triumphs over a victim. How could the city of Athens show its citizens Medea's murder of her children? Orestes' killing of his mother? Anne Burnett reveals a larger reality in these ancient plays, comparing them to later drama and finding in them forgotten and powerful meaning.

Revenge in Attic and Later Tragedy

This book consists of individual studies of Pindar's eleven odes for Aiginetan victors, preceded by a brief survey of the history of the island and the nature of its aristocracy. Anne Pippin Burnett's discussion is particularly attentive to questions of mythic self-presentation, as exemplified in the pedimental sculptures of the Aphaia Temple and the parallel `narrative' sections of the odes. The overall concern is with Pindaric techniques for unifying an audience and leading it into a shared experience of inspired success, but there is also a concern with the realities of athletic contest and its celebration.

Pindar's Songs for Young Athletes of Aigina

Bacchylides

Pippin Burnett Burnett

Anne Burnett shows us the art of Bacchylides in the context of Greek lyric traditions. She discusses the beginnings of choral poetry and the functions of the choral myth; she describes the purposes of the victory song in particular and the practices of Bacchylides and Pindar as they fulfilled their victory commissions. In analyzing individual poems Burnett's approach is two-fold, for each ode is seen as a choral performance reflecting archaic cult practice, while it is also studied as the expression of a particular poetic vision and sensibility. Thus the formal elements of the Bacchylidean victory songs are recognized as the response of a chorus which must give semi-religious praise to a noble athlete or prize-winning prince in times of increasing democracy. At the same time an artistry and an ethic peculiar to Bacchylides are discovered in the manipulation of fictions and mythic materials.

The Art of Bacchylides

This book consists of individual studies of the poet Pindar's eleven odes for the victors of the athletic contests on the island of Aigina. Anne Pippin Burnett addresses questions of mythic self-presentation, as well as Pindar's techniques for unifying his audience and leading it into a shared experience of inspired success.

Anne Pippin Burnett

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