Professor Laura Swift

In recent years I have been working with contemporary theatre-makers on their process and practice, and my research interests have incorporated the psychology of making creative work around the theme of fragmentation, how it acts as a creative stimulus, and how we can represent it artistically. A full production by Potential Difference Theatre (https://www.potentialdifference.org.uk/)  inspired by the papyrus fragments of lost Greek tragedies and our human need to tell stories and piece together information toured in London and Oxford in 2023,

My other major research interest is Greek tragedy. I have recently completed a jointly authored ‘green and yellow’ commentary on Euripides’ Bacchae for CUP. I am particularly interested in the relationship between the tragic chorus and other types of choral song performed in Greek society. My book The Hidden Chorus (2010) argued for the central importance of choral song as a cultural tool in Greek society, and suggested a reading of tragedy that placed as much weight on the musical contexts of fifth-century Athens as scholars have traditionally placed on historical or political ones. I have also published more broadly on tragedy, including an introduction to the genre (2016) and a book on Euripides’ Ion (2008), and I co-authored the OCR textbook on Greek theatre for A Level Classical Studies (2017).

Greek tragedy, lyric poetry

I teach widely across Classical Literature at undergraduate level for the College and University. I welcome enquiries from prospective graduate students interested in working on Archaic or Classical Greek poetry.

Full Publications: Dr Laura Swift Publications 2023

Selected Publications:

Authored books

Archilochus: The Poems. Oxford University Press, 2019.

Greek Theatre and Imperial Image: OCR Classical Civilisation AS and A Level Components 21 and 22. Co-authored with R. Hancock-Jones and J. Renshaw. Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

Greek Tragedy: Themes and Contexts. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.

The Hidden Chorus: Echoes of Genre in Tragic Lyric. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Euripides’ Ion. Bloomsbury Academic, 2008.

Edited books

A Companion to Greek Lyric. Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.

Moralising Strategies in Early Greek Poetry. Jointly edited with W. Allan. Mouseion 15(1): University of Toronto Press, 2018.

Iambus and Elegy: New Approaches. Jointly edited with C. Carey. Oxford University Press, 2016.

And many articles and chapters on Archaic and Classical Greek literature.