Class today: March 26th

1. You will need the following information on tragedy structure in your notes. We will be using this to start examining the choruses. 

Typical Structure of a Tragedy

1. Prologue: A monologue or dialogue preceding the entry of the chorus, which presents the tragedy's topic.
2. Parode/Parados (Entrance Ode): The entry chant of the chorus, often in an anapestic (short-short-long) marching rhythm (four feet per line). Generally, they remain on stage throughout the remainder of the play. Although they wear masks, their dancing is expressive, as conveyed by the hands, arms and body.usTypically the parode and other choral odes involve the following parts, repeated in order several times:
   
   1. Strophê (Turn): A stanza in which the chorus moves in one direction (toward the altar). Expresses a complete thought. Travels East to West. 
   2. Antistrophê (Counter-Turn): The following stanza, in which it moves in the opposite direction. The antistrophe is in the same meter as the strophe. Another complete thought. Chorus travels West to East. 
   3. Epode (After-Song): The epode is in a different, but related, meter to the strophe and antistrophe, and is chanted by the chorus standing still. The epode is often omitted, so there may be a series of strophe-antistrophe pairs without intervening epodes.
3. Episode: There are several episodes (typically 3-5) in which one or two actors interact with the chorus. They are, at least in part, sung or chanted. Speeches and dialogue are typically iambic hexameter: six iambs (short-long) per line, but rhythmic anapests are also common. In lyric passages the meters are treated flexibly. Each episode is terminated by a stasimon:
4. Stasimon (Stationary Song): A choral ode in which the chorus may comment on or react to the preceding episode.
5. Exode/ Exodos (Exit Ode): The exit song of the chorus after the last episode

2. After you have the above notes in your own notes. I want you to first identify the Parados...Stasimon(s)... and Exodos in Oedipus Rex. You may mark them lightly with pencil in your book, but also have the line numbers in your notes. 

3. Then return to the Parados. Read through the Parados carefully. Greek choruses often express the fears and hopes of the ordinary citizens, while often also voicing judgment of the characters. 

Use the following questions to help guide your examination and analysis of the Parados... you will need to be able to do this independently. 

      1. What roles do the Gods play in the Parados/Stasimon? 

      2.  In what ways is it responding to what has just happened in the previous episode? 

      3.  How are the needs of the chorus members/citizens different from the characters in the episode?

      4.  What figurative language is being used and how? Metaphor? Similes? Personification? 

      5.  What is the Parados/Stasimon's major theme and/or argument? 

      6.  What other literary elements do you see and how are they being used? 

      7.  Structure: Can you determine the strophe? antistrophe? epode? Remember the concept of the sonnet? The quatrains/sestets/couplets? They derive from the Greek Chorus. Not only does the structure get fragmented, you will see the meaning shift. 

4. Read lines 573-954 for Friday.