Tony Harrison: The Bonebard Ballads

Allusion to Classical figure Ares, Helen, Troy

Allusion to Classical place Sparta

Relationship to Classical text In section 2. 'the Ballad of the Geldshark' Classical and contemporary imagery combine, e.g. 'the dogtags on the amphorae' (Aeschylus).

Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts A translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, l.438-455.

Classical/post-Classical intertexts Robert Browning’s Agamemnon (1877), for the sound and character of his translation (see Harrison’s Introduction, p.8ff in the 2002 edition), Northern English accents and the consonantal sound qualities of Old English verse, especially though the use of compound words. 19th and 20th century scholarship relating to sexual politics, especially that which references the mythology of the Oresteia (in the writings of Lafargue, Freud, Hegel etc.), as well as late 20th century feminism (ibid. p.30ff).

Comment The poem is an extract from Harrison’s Oresteia, but with ‘clan chief’ substituted for ‘Agamemnon’ and ‘sons of Atreus’.