Poetry and Its Public in Ancient Greece

""This superb and fascinating book insists upon trying to place the poetry of Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar, Archilochus, and others within its social and ritual contexts: oral performance, patron/poet relationship, and religious or communal function. Considering the evidence, such efforts must at times rely upon inspiration, but the close textual readings of individual poems, judicious use of anthropological method, and inclusion of many of the recently discovered fragments creates a vivid picture. A book that will be with us for years to come.""