Choral Poetry, Diction of

The Greek poetic forms characterized by dancing and singing in choruses fall under the label of ‘choral lyric’. As with other ancient Greek poetic genres, choral lyric employs a well-defined literary language, adopted by all choral poets regardless of their geographical provenance. This literary language is distinguished by a marked Doric component, which blends with epic elements and a handful of linguistic features imported from other dialects or poetic traditions.