Question

The chorus is an important element of drama. In Antigone, it serves multiple purposes, such as providing background information about events that occurred before the start of the play. Which lines in this excerpt from Antigone serve the purpose of describing recent events? CHORUS: But ere a torch our crown of towers could burn, Ere they had tasted of our blood, they turn Forced by the Dragon; in their rear The din of Ares panic-struck they hear. For Zeus who hates the braggart's boast Beheld that gold-bespangled host; As at the goal the paean they upraise, He struck them with his forked lightning blaze. To earthy from earth rebounding, down he crashed; The fire-brand from his impious hand was dashed, As like a Bacchic reveler on he came, Outbreathing hate and flame, And tottered. Elsewhere in the field, Here, there, great Area like a war-horse wheeled; Beneath his car down thrust Our foemen bit the dust. Seven captains at our seven gates Thundered; for each a champion waits, Each left behind his armor bright, Trophy for Zeus who turns the fight; Save two alone, that ill-starred pair One mother to one father bare, Who lance in rest, one 'gainst the other Drave, and both perished, brother slain by brother. Now Victory to Thebes returns again And smiles upon her chariot-circled plain. Now let feast and festal should Memories of war blot out. Let us to the temples throng, Dance and sing the live night long. God of Thebes, lead thou the round. Bacchus, shaker of the ground!

Answer 1

The lines that describe recent events are the following: "Seven captains at our seven gates Thundered; for each a champion waits, Each left behind his armor bright, Trophy for Zeus who turns the fight; Save two alone, that ill-starred pair One mother to one father bare, Who lance in rest, one 'gainst the other Drave, and both perished, brother slain by brother."

Here, the chorus recounts the recent war of Argive and Thebes armies, led by two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, who killed each other. This event if the foreground of the plot. The chorus' story serves at least two purposes: reminding the audience of a well-known occurrence (thus providing a context for the plot), and a foreshadowing of another tragedy that is about to happen.