Impersonating Hypsipyle: Statius’ Thebaid and Medieval Lament1

Abstract

This article argues that studies of the female voice in medieval Latin lyric should take into account the significance of Statius’ Thebaid as a vehicle for the feminine voice distinct from that represented by the Ovidian tradition, for Statius’ text makes prominent the figure of the grieving, but powerful mother rather than the lovesick, abandoned “heroine.” It takes as a case study the eleventh century collection, Cambridge Songs, which include five laments excerpted from classical texts, three of them women’s laments from Statius’ Thebaid. Recited or sung by young students or male performers, these excerpted laments also raise the question of whether impersonation created a sympathetic understanding of female experience or reinforced gender differentiation and male elite values. This article suggests that the excerpted laments from the Thebaid, when detached from the epic narrative, give validity and authority to the conventionally marginal voices of women.