
The Role of the Poet in Early Societies
D.S. Brewer (Publisher)
Published on 3. August 1989
Book
Hardback
176 pages
978-0-85991-279-2 (ISBN)
Description
Bloomfield and Dunn describe the varying roles which "poets" have historically filled within society, whether ancient, medieval, or pre-modern and identify the key functions of the poet figure. He (or sometimes she) supports theruler and is in turn rewarded for a central service to the tribe; he exercises his authority by an apparently magical understanding of the past, present, and future; and, whenever called upon to perform an official rite, he knowshow to wield the appropriate traditional, esoteric utterances.
In order to illustrate the ways in which this kind of poetic function can be seen to have been exercised in early Irish literature, pre-modern Scottish Gaelic,early Welsh, early Norse and Old English the authors draw on a wide-range of texts. The study concludes with an examination of the implications of their findings for twentieth century readers exploring the utterances of poets remote from them in time or space.
In order to illustrate the ways in which this kind of poetic function can be seen to have been exercised in early Irish literature, pre-modern Scottish Gaelic,early Welsh, early Norse and Old English the authors draw on a wide-range of texts. The study concludes with an examination of the implications of their findings for twentieth century readers exploring the utterances of poets remote from them in time or space.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
2 s/w Abbildungen
2 b/w.
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
1 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85991-279-2 (9780859912792)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Morton W. Bloomfield | Charles W. Dunn
The Role of the Poet in Early Societies
Book
04/1992
D.S. Brewer
€30.70
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Content
The poetic function; the primal situation - poetry and patronage; Early Irish culture; Scottish Gaelic culture; other early Western European cultures - Welsh, Norse, Old English; the notion of wisdom; wisdom genres and types of literature; primal poetry and the modern audience.