Talk:The Knights

New edit

I am intending to expand and develop this article and then hopefully do the same with the other plays of this great writer. The headings, maybe, will look like this - Introduction, Dramatis Personae, Plot, Background, Dramatic Structure (a detailed analysis of the plot in terms of Prologue, Parados, Parabasis, Symmetrical scenes, Lyrics, Episodes), Text (manuscript transmission etc), Linguistic Devices (puns, metaphores, similes etc), Influence and Legacy, Performances, and the usual reference and footnote sections. Also a section on literary references within the text (Aristophanes always has something to say about other writers and their styles). That's something like the shape of things to come. Now I just have to deliver! Lucretius (talk) 01:06, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

I have now provided a new introduction and a summary of the plot. I have removed the tag about the article's inappropriate tone because it is no longer the same article. I intend next to provide an historical background, followed by a brief 'discussion' about some key aspects of the play. Later still I'll add a section explaining the play's dramtic structure in terms of Old Comedy conventions. I would like to include an overview of the play's metrical structure but I don't trust my ability to analyse some of the songs. Any help with that would be much appreciated but I don't expect it any time soon as nobody but little old me seems to take any interest in this brilliant play. The world's loss is my gain. Lucretius (talk) 06:23, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I have now finished my edit. I had quite a lot of trouble writing a coherent summary of the plot. All A's plays are difficult to encapsulate but this one was VERY difficult. In the end, I found it helpful to accept the fact that the play operates at two different levels of meaning - as a satire and as an allegory. Cleon is the villain of the satire, Paphlagonian is the villain of the larger allegory. The two don't fit together neatly. If the play is a failure, it's a brilliant failure - a bit like King Lear: the author's brilliance rips apart the dramatic form like The Incredible Hulk shredding his clothes. A terrible beauty is born. Lucretius (talk) 00:15, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Nav. Box

I have restored the nav box (linking to Aristophanes' plays) to the top of the article because it allows for easy cross-referencing between plays and because it is a useful reminder that each play is best understood in the context of all the plays. Lucretius (talk) 00:11, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Ancient Greece

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 January 2023 and 28 April 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Cjmaher (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Sarah3707.

— Assignment last updated by Wartracjunior (talk) 20:26, 21 April 2023 (UTC)