User:Mil09hischier/Consolatio (consolations) Literary Genre

Consolations (Consolatio, Consolatione) as a Literary Genre
The Consolatio Tradition (English- Consolations), is a broadly defined literary genre encompassing various forms of consolatory speeches, essays, poems, and personal letters. This literary tradition flourished in Antiquity, and its origins date back to the fifth century BC. Orators in Antiquity often delivered consolatory speeches to comfort mourners at funerals or in cases of public mourning. Friends wrote each other personal letters consoling each other on the loss of a loved one. These were often highly personal in fashion, and filled with emotion. Consolatio works also include Philosphical treatises concerning human understanding of grief, bereavement, and mourning. These works are usually more detached in their tone, and many are written in essay format. All these consolatory works are united under the banner of Consolatio because they utilize similar arugments, topoi, and distinct rhetorical appeals.

Defining Characteristics

 * All Consolatio works draw from a relatively narrow range of arguments and approaches aimed at offering solace. Typical arguments defining the Consolatio genre include,
 * “all are born mortal; death brings release from the miseries of life; time heals all griefs; future ills should be prepared for; the deceased was only ‘lent’--be grateful for having possessed him. Normally grief is regarded as natural and legitimate, though not to be indulged in.”
 * Consolatio works are united by their treatment of bereavement, unique rhetorical structure and topoi, and their usage of universal consolatory themes to offer solace to mourners.

Ancient History
The Consolatio Tradition has ancient roots in the field of Rhetoric. Ancient Rhetoricans were the first to consciously manipulate language to produce a desired effect. Plato was the first to consider language as a way to manipulation of the mind, and thus illicit specific thoughts and emotions. The Consolatio Tradition developed in this light, authors believed language could be used as solace and consolation in times of grief. Others claim the genre arose from the Sophist belief in the healing power of discourse Some scholars believe the Consolatio Tradition arose as a response to passages of grief found in the works of the Greek Poet Homer. Although several ancient writings contain elements of consolation, it was the Academic Crantor of Soli (c. 325- c. 275BC), a member of Plato’s Academy, who first constructed his works in a distinctly Consolatio Tradition. Although only fragments of his essays have survived, his influence is noted in the works of later writers, particularly Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations and Plutarch’s Consolation to Apollonius. Crantor advocated ‘metriopatheia,’ a tactic for dealing with strong emotions. (Baulthussen, Introduction) Cicero’s Consolatio (link to wiki) is widely accepted as the distinct work that transmitted the Consolatio Literary Tradition from the Greeks to the Romans. (Scourfield) In the Early Imperial Age, most Consolatio works were constructed within the framework of Stocicsm. Seneca the Younger produced the most recognizable examples of Consolatio in his three Consolations, Ad Marciam, Ad Polybium, and Ad Helviam Matrem. The most recognizable example of Consolatio in verse form was written by the pseudo-Ovidian, Consolatio ad Liviam. In Beothius’ Consolation of Philosophy (link to wiki) Philososphy herself consols the author for his adversity. (OCD, Consolations) Other notable examples of the Consolatio Tradition from Antiquity: Ovidian Pont. 4. 11 and Statius’ poem consoling Abascantus on his wife’s death, letters from Fonto, Apollonius of Tyana, the Emperor Julian, and Libanius. Libanius was also the author of the funeral addressings consoling mourner’s over the death of Emperor Julian. The ‘Plutarchian Corpus’ includes three works constructed in the Consolatio tradition, De exilio, Consolatio ad uxorem, Consolatio ad Apollonium. (Scourfield)

Reception and Influence
The tradition of Consolatio, particularly its distinct tone and topoi, widely influenced other literary genres. Elements of the Consolatio Tradition can be found in a plethora of later works, and the reception of the tradition in the Middle Ages and the early modern era is notable. (Brills New Pauly) The Consolatio Tradition *Middle Ages (wiki needed) *Early Modern Era (wiki needed)