'The project of this book', writes the author in his Preface, 'is to investigate how poetry and the figure of the poet are represented, discussed, contested within the poetry of ancient Greece'. Dr Goldhill seeks to discover how ancient authors broached the questions: From what position does a poet speak? With what authority? With what debts to the past? With what involvement in the present? Through a series of interrelated essays on Homer, lyric poetry, Aristophanes, Theocritus and Apollonius of Rhodes, key aspects in the history of poetics are discussed: tale-telling and the representation of man as the user of language; memorial and praise; parody, comedy and carnival; irony, masks and desire; the legacy of the past and the idea of influence. Detailed readings of major works of Greek literature show how richly rewarding and revealing this approach can be. The author makes liberal use of critical writings from areas of study other than Classics and focuses on problems central to contemporary critical debate. (Publisher's information). 'After I had finally managed to plow through the first two chapters of this book and had begun to despair of ever seeing the end, I asked a close friend if he thought I was ethically obliged to read every word before writing a review. We concluded that I was, and I have. Indeed, I have read much of it twice and some of it three times. I hope no-one else is ever forced to do the same.' (DOUGLAS S. OLSON in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 02.05.09). From the library of the late Prof. W. Geoffrey Arnott.