Perhaps the first thing to strike us-paradoxical as it may sound to say so-about the Athenian 'Old Comedy' is its modernness. Of its very nature, satiric drama comes later than Epic and Lyric poetry, Tragedy or History; Aristophanes follows Homer and Simonides, Sophocles and Thucydides. Of its essence, it is free from many of the conventions and restraining influences of earlier forms of literature, and enjoys much of the liberty of choice of subject and licence of method that marks present day conditions of literary production both on and off the stage. Its very existence presupposes a fuller and bolder intellectual life, a more advanced and complex city civilization, a keener taste and livelier faculty of comprehension in the people who appreciate it, than could anywhere be found at an earlier epoch. Speaking broadly and generally, the Aristophanic drama has more in common with modern ways of looking at things, more in common with the conditions of the modern stage, especially in certain directions-burlesque, extravaganza, musical farce, and even 'pantomime,' than with the earlier and graver products of the Greek mind.
The wasps - The birds - The frogs - The Thesmophoriazusae - The Ecclesiazusae
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe knights - The Acharnians - Peace - Lysistrata - The clouds.
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookDelphi Complete Works of Aristophanes (Illustrated)
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Eleven Comedies : Vol II
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Eleven Comedies
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Eleven Comedies - Complete
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Frogs
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Thesmophoriazusae
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Knights
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Ecclesiazusae
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Wasps
Aristophanes Aristophanes
bookThe Birds
Aristophanes Aristophanes
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