This book offers an intertextual study of dawn and dusk descriptions in Statiusâ Thebaid. Poetic images such as rosy-fingered Dawn and the fiery chariot of the Sun sinking into the Ocean are the result of learned work on the previous literary tradition. The striking dawn and dusk descriptions in the Thebaid offer a perfect illustration of the way in which the traditional characteristics of the motif can be remodelled to produce new meaning. Each chapter in this monograph examines one of the aspects associated with dawns and dusks: formulaic diction, structuring role, relation to time and light, allegory.
"The reader closes this book with a sense that the structuring function and symbolic nature of dawns and sunsets increases in the Thebaid as the poem progresses, and a renewed awe for Statiusâ mastery of the art of allusion. The analyses are conducted throughout with diligence" Marie-Pierre Bussières, University of Ottowa in BMCR 2024.02.06.
This monograph appealing to a wide range of classicists, from undergraduate students learning about the epic tradition to scholars specializing in the study of the Thebaid, belongs in all academic libraries.