Neoteric

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The neoterics (Gr. Νεώτεροι "the newer", Latin also poetae novi ) were a circle of poets in ancient Rome around 50 BC. BC , who decided to distance themselves from the Roman tradition of poetry at the time and saw themselves as a new generation of poets (Greek neos "new"). In terms of style, they were based on the ideals of the Hellenistic poet Callimachus . The most famous representative of the neoteric was Catullus . Only fragments have survived from the works of other neotericists, for example Marcus Furius Bibaculus , Caecilius Metellus , Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus and Gaius Helvius Cinna .

The neotericists change Ennius' law by discarding the consonants m and s at the end of words. They only allow the m to be dropped in front of vowels, but s to be retained everywhere. This limits the further blurring of the endings and deliberately emphasizes the difference to colloquial language. In addition, they fully enforce the principle of pure quantity for the metric in imitation of the Greek. The lengths and shortening of the syllables are fixed and no longer influenced by the word accent. From the Alexandrians they adopt a lighter style and a more fluent language. Traditional epithets are avoided, diminutives and transcriptions are used more. The poetry is established by the neoterics in Rome, occasional poems and epigrams are written.

In contrast to other writers of the time, the neoterics were critical or disinterested in politics. Instead of the great and sublime , the small, the personal and the seemingly insignificant came to the fore. Her poems are about the poet himself and his feelings, about friendship, love and eroticism, but learned subjects are also treated poetically in imitation of Callimachus. The background for this view was the increasing decline of the Roman Republic , which considerably restricted the possibilities for social engagement and in large circles of the upper class a central characteristic of neoteric poetry was the effort to elaborate as detailed as possible, in which nothing was left to chance. The personal, emotional poems are also based on intensive design work, so their spontaneous effect was brought about consciously. As a result of this pursuit of perfection, the neotericists preferred short poem forms such as epyllion , epigram or elegy . They used a variety of meters such as the Hendekasyllabus , the hexameter or the elegiac distich .

literature

  • Christian Hild: love poems as a risk. Emotions and generational processes in Catullus' Lesbio poems (= hermeneutics and creativity. Vol. 2). Röhrig, St. Ingbert 2013, ISBN 978-3-86110-517-6 (Also: Tübingen, University, dissertation, 2012).
  • Thomas Baier : History of Roman literature (= Beck'sche series 2446 CH Beck knowledge ). Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-56246-4 , pp. 72-74.
  • Manfred Fuhrmann : History of Roman Literature (= Reclams Universal Library . 17658). Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-15-017658-1 , pp. 170-174.
  • Vito Sirago: La scuola neoterica. Saggio con edizione dei frammenti. Arona, Paidera 1947.