French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Delignon, N. Le Meur, O. Thévenaz (eds.), La poésie lyrique dans la cité antique. Les Odes d'Horace au miroir de la lyrique grecque archaïque.
Poetry and Poetics

Bénédicte Delignon, Nadine Le Meur, Olivier Thévenaz (eds.), La poésie lyrique dans la cité antique. Les Odes d'Horace au miroir de la lyrique grecque archaïque, De Boccard, Collection du CEROR, Lyon, 2016.

EAN13: 9782364420588

Price: 36€

Book Presentation

The city-state is the primary context in which ancient lyric poetry must be situated. In archaic Greece, the civic functions of lyric forms were manifold. In Augustan Rome, the political role of poetry was equally crucial, culminating in the Secular Games of 17 BC, for which Horace was commissioned to compose a choral hymn.

Attentive to the specificities of each poetic discourse, as well as to the diversity of the cultures and cities from which they emerged, this volume deepens and refines our understanding of the civic and political stakes of lyric poetry. It focuses on how Horace, in his Epodes and Odes, embraces and reorients the archaic heritage to recreate some of its forms within the Augustan context, ultimately becoming the voice of a refounded Rome.

This volume stems from the inaugural conference of a partnership on ancient lyric poetry uniting the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, UMR 5189 HiSoMA, and the University of Lausanne, with the support of the Rhône-Alpes Region. This partnership aims to rethink the relationship between Greek lyric poetry and its Latin continuations in light of recent research advances, fostering a genuine exchange of knowledge between Latinists and Hellenists to provide mutual illumination for two fields too often studied in isolation.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Lyric Poetry in its Social and Political Context

Antonio Aloni - Kômos and the City.

Stefano Caciagli - Lesbos and Athens between polis and oikia.

Virginie Hollard - The Political Function of the Poet in the City during the Augustan Age: The Example of Horace (Odes and Carmen Saeculare)

Hans-Christian Günther - Horace: Poetry and Politics.

Michèle Lowrie - Salvation, Security, and the Body of the Leader: Transformations in the Public Sphere in the Age of Horace.

Part 2: New Contexts and Poetic Creation

Stephen J. Harrison - Horace Odes 2.7: Greek Models and Roman Civil War.

Olivier Thévenaz - Actium on the Confines of Iambic and Lyric Poetry.

Lucia Athanassaki - Pindarum quisque studet aemulari: Greek and Roman Civic Performance Contexts (Pindar's Fourth and Fifth Pythians and Horace's Odes 4.2)

Part 3: Conditions of Enunciation and the Civic Anchoring of Lyric Poetry

Nadine Le Meur - Praying for the City: The Presence of the Civic Community in Pindar's Paeans.

Chris Carey - Negotiating the Public Voice.

Michel Briand - Between Spectacle and Text: Contexts, Instances, and Pragmatic Procedures in Pindar and Horace.

Jean Yvonneau - An Unexplained Presence: The Goddess Leto in Timocreon (fr. 727.4 Page)

Part 4: Horace, Civic Lyric, and Poetic Innovation

Mario Citroni - Cicero, Horace, and linha Legitimation of Lyric as Civic Poetry.

Grégory Bouchaud - Poetic Power and Powerlessness: Elements of Comparison between Pindar and Horace.

Bénédicte Delignon - Erotic Lyric and Political Lyric in Horace's Ode 4.1.

Gregson Davis - Festo quid potius die: Locus of Performance and Lyric Program in Horace, Odes 3.28.

Jenny Strauss Clay - Horace and Apollo's Younger Brother.

Denis C. Feeney - Horace and the Literature of the Past: Lyric, Epic, and History in Odes 4.

Bibliographical References

Index Locorum.

The civic functions of lyric forms in archaic Greece and the political role of poetry in Augustan Rome form the central framework of this volume. Bringing together contributions from various scholars, the collection examines the relationship between Greek lyric poetry and its Latin continuations. The chapters are organized into four distinct sections addressing social and political contexts, new contexts and poetic creation, conditions of enunciation, and civic lyric alongside poetic innovation. Contributors explore specific works, models, and performances to deepen our understanding of these traditions.

This collective study stems from an academic partnership uniting the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, HiSoMA, and the University of Lausanne, aiming to foster exchange between Latinists and Hellenists. By analyzing texts such as the Odes and Epodes, the volume investigates how lyric poetry engages with the city-state and reflects public spheres and historical shifts. Readers interested in classical antiquity, classical reception, and the intersections of poetry and politics in the ancient world may find this volume relevant.