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Abstract:

The paper deals with the problem of the literary canon in relation to the late classical and Byzantine Аnacreontic poetry. The novelty of the work is due to the fact that anacreontics have only recently begun to attract the attention of scholars. Anacreontic poets deliberately imitated the style of Anacreon of Theos. These poems were distinguished as a special group, first of all, on a metrical basis (two “canonical” verse metres are hemiamb and Anacreontic verse). Anacreontic poetry also uses some lexical and syntactic cliches. The motives of this poetry primarily are love, wine, the joy of life, and a sense of its brevity. The author’s personality is often indistinguishable, although there are exceptions to this rule. Over time, Christian anacreontics appear, where the themes of sensual pleasures and the brevity of life are interpreted in accordance with Christian doctrine and often are simply replaced with Christian content. Nevertheless, the metres remain the same, although they are read in accordance with the changed rules of pronunciation. The important thing is that the idea of a certain general canon of anacreontics among the later poets remains unchanged, and they do not cease following it.

Keywords: Anacreontic poetry, literary canon, metric, non-stylistic imitations, late classical poetry, Byzantine poetry, Christianity.