Speaking silences: Silence in Homer, Pindar, Apollonius and Vergil

Contrast is one of the elements of composition and silence is the natural complement of sound, especially speech. Silence is often used to show extreme emotions that cannot be expressed in words. Silence is an important aspect of speech: it can be explicitly invoked by characters in their speech, or they may simply be silent. The narrator may choose to describe the silence of a character or nature, or he may impose silence on himself.;This thesis examines each of the Iliad, the Odyssey, Pindar's Odes, the Argonautica and the Aeneid independently and in detail for its use of silence. First the relationship between silence and speech is analyzed, then the words and formulas used for explicit references to silence, and finally the significance of silence in each passage.;These works are all deeply enriched by the careful use of silence. In these poems silence does not have a meaning in and of itself: it can be, by context, either good or bad, show high status or low status. Silence is an intensifier: it gives emphasis to the moment, and its meaning comes from the context. In the Iliad, the Odyssey and Pindar's Odes silence is simply the lack of human speech: it is never used to describe the night, death, or the landscape. In Apollonius' Argonautica and Vergil's Aeneid, silence is not restricted to speech: nature can now be silent. The Odyssey introduces the extensive use of silence as a key component of secrecy and plots. Pindar makes extensive use of silence in his break-offs to effect swift transitions between stories. In the Argonautica Apollonius uses silence to enhance his major themes: it intensifies the scenes of eros between Jason and Medea, and is paired with a ,mh cani&d12; h , the word that so defines the mood of the poem. Vergil uses silence to create the ambiguity of meaning and interpretation that is so essential to the Aeneid. These differences in how silence is used reflect the different aims and themes of the poets.