Bucolic Irony: A Close Reading of Theocritus Idyll One

Abstract

Irony, like many abstract Greek nouns, is difficult to pin down to a single definition. Through his sonorous hexameters, Theocritus immediately recalls the Greek oral poetic tradition. In addition to archaic epic traditions, Theocritus incorporates the recent trends of urban poetry, coming mostly out of Alexandria, to aid in his initiation of a “faux” tradition. The terms bucolic and pastoral do not seem to be synonyms, translated from Greek (βουκολικός) into Latin (pastoralis). What it is exactly Theocritus initiated can be explored through a careful analysis of the surfeit of traditions present in his poetry. The result of this analysis has yielded an understanding of Idyll One that, due to the programmatic nature of that poem, can serve as a starting point for future research into Theocritus and ancient pastoral or bucolic poetry. In Idyll One, Thyrsis and the goatherd seem to abide by a set of rules that gives the lines a palpable irony: it is as if two competing Homeric singers suddenly started singing about the countryside and Pan as a way to compete and argue contemporary poetics. The weaving of traditions, in addition to multiple opportunities for simultaneously complex and simple interpretations, initiates the phenomenon of bucolic irony; this phenomenon both unites the Greek bucolicists and differentiates them from later pastoralists. The approach to irony offered is based largely on Aristotle, but also a modern theory of humour, taking “irony” to mean, most basically, “a misrepresentation of understanding”. Through the evolution of ancient conceptions surrounding both the words βουκολέω and εἴρων, the term bucolic irony is outlined in the first two chapters, followed by four chapters dedicated to a close reading of Idyll One.