This chapter approaches the concept of the poem through the recitation of oral praise poetry in interpersonal exchanges and in an increasingly textual world. Blending literary history, textual analysis, and autoethnography, the chapter illuminates a decolonial approach to the poem, shifting from an emphasis on the individually authored work to the value of shared practice. Through a close analysis of nhetembo dzemadzinza, a genre of oral clan praise poetry central to Shona-speaking people in Zimbabwe and its environs, the chapter considers the function of poems in rites of passage, affirmations of kinship, and erotic exchanges, while also affirming the interpretive acumen of collectives rather than individuals. The chapter then addresses the reimagination of nhetembo by poets who, living in the diaspora, seek nevertheless to claim a nonhierarchical, decolonializing set of social relations.

Court poetry is the label given to skaldic poetry in dróttkvætt (court metre) or one of its many variations, delivered as praise of rulers by Icelandic, Norwegian and Orcadian poets. This chapter discusses its typical content, including battle, voyages, praise, self-referential allusions to poetry, and mythical and religious references, both Christian and pre-Christian. The characteristic techniques of skaldic poetry – complex metre, diction (especially kennings) and word order, including clause arrangement – are described in detail. The three main forms of skaldic poetry, the drápa, flokkr and vísur, are distinguished, and subgenres of skaldic poetry such as ekphrasis, genealogical and historical poems, and eddic-style praise poems are described. Other types of court poetry, not straightforwardly encomiastic, are also considered. The social context and purpose of court poetry is explained, and the chapter concludes with a survey of the transmission, influence and modern reconstruction of court poems. Court poetry was such a useful medium for entertaining warrior elites that it endured for four centuries, and the continued inventiveness of court poets is noted.

This chapter traces the history of professional poets and musicians at ancient Greek banquets from the archaic period through the Hellenistic age, including pipers, citharists, citharodes, harpists, and others. It also discusses various ways in which banquet music served self-promotion, personal and political. Elite symposia were venues for reperformances of victory odes, republishing a man’s fame with members of his class, sometimes beyond his own city and even his own generation. Philip II and Alexander used mocking poets at drinking parties to undercut and intimidate powerful members of the inner circle at a court where royal symposia had a quasi-constitutional function. They and other fourth-century rulers used professional musicians for display at banquets to enhance the royal vanity and promote their image. The chapter also discusses the extent to which social dining was a setting for professional poets and their poetry in the Hellenistic age and whether the works of academic poets such as Callimachus and Theocritus were sung.