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This survey of the relationship between archaic poetry and drama concludes that the origins of tragedy should not be sought in ritual and religion, but in the meters, form, and subject matter of lyric and epic poetry. This book complements the work of G.F. Else on Solon's iambic poetry (The Origins and Early Form of Greek Tragedy, 1965); unfortunately, Herington does not consider C.W. Macleod's analysis of tragic style and narrative pacing in Homer (Iliad, Book XXIV, 1982). He offers many interesting suggestions about the performance of lyric (that victory odes were usually performed by solo singers), and argues persuasively that important poems were preserved in writing so that they could be performed repeatedly. Herington makes helpful observations about the dramatic innovations of Aeschylus, and provides a remarkably sympathetic assessment of the maligned and fragmentary Persae of Timotheus. This work is clearly written and accessible to the nonspecialist, although with all passages cited in translation and Greek words transliterated. The bibliography is not always complete or up to date. A general acquaintance with Greek literature is assumed. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students.-M.R. Lefkowitz, Wellesley College