Obras

Información de la obra y contexto de creación

These fragments, and little else, are all that has come down to us from the work of this Greek poetess. Of these, the most remembered and reproduced is Adonis in the underworld. There are many versions and translations, here we have chosen the translation of the University of Oxford, except for the last fragment, the translation of which is our own. She wrote drinking songs (skolia), encompassed under the name of Paroinia, hymns and dithyrambs (choral songs in honor of Dionysus) and invented a dactylic meter, the Praxilleion.

She was highly recognised during her time and her work was highly valued. Currently, it is difficult to make an assessment of it, given the scarce volume that is preserved, but her poems were sung until the second century BC. The fact that her work was highly recognised and valued is proved by several later events, although not all positive: Aristophanes parodied verses of her poetry both in Wasps (v. 1238) as in Thesmophoriazusae (v. 528), implying not only that he knew of her work, but also that his audience was familiar with it too; she was sculpted in bronze by Lysippus; she was also quoted by the sophist Zenobius to eplain the proverbial expression "Dumber than Praxilla's Adonis" (because the mention of cucumbers next to the sun and moon seemed incongruous). Something that Zenobius missed, however, is that "a possible pun in verse three between cucumber (Greek sicyos) and the name of Praxilla's hometown (Sicyon) suggests more than one level of meaning in Adonis' verses." ("Testimonia and fragments" in David A. Campbell, Greek Lyric, vol. 4, pp. 374-381 (Loeb Classical Library, 1992). Also Josephine Balmer notes, in her Classical Women Poets, that "a cucumber could be taken as a perfect emblem of the male fertility god."

She was a contemporary of Telesilla of Argos, another great poetess. Unfortunately, only two of Telesilla’s verses are preserved. Six centuries after Praxilla's death, the poet Antipater of Thessalonica declared her one of the 9 earthly muses of "immortal tongue."

 

Indicaciones

-Classical culture: Block Classical roots of today's world. Everyday life; Block Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature (Poetry), art and science.

-Greek Baccalaureate: Block The text: comprehension and translation; Block Literary education.

-Spanish Language and Literature ESO: Literary Education Block.

-Universal Literature 1st Baccalaureate: Interpretation of Greek period fragments of different genres and themes.

 

Documentos

Esta ficha no tiene documentos anexos