The Seba library treats Refrain in 8 passages, across 4 authors (including Alexiou, Margaret, Levine, Peter A., Descartes, René).
One more traditional feature of the refrain was the reiterated statement of death. The refrain in Bion’s lament for Adonis contains the phrase ‘the fair Adonis is dead’
Alexiou identifies the refrain’s core ritual function as the formal, repeated declaration of death, establishing it as a structural and apotropaic constant of ancient Greek lamentation.
, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, 1974thesis
each fifteen-syllable line of these laments may be followed by a refrain of eight or five syllables. Usually the number of syllables in the refrain is constant throughout, while the actual phrase may be varied
Alexiou demonstrates that the folk lament refrain operates as a metrically fixed but verbally flexible structure, its formal constancy serving the ritual demands of collective mourning.
, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, 1974thesis
we find a rare combination of antiphony and choral refrain. One woman takes the part of the girl, another the part of the mother, while the rest form the chorus; they enact a kind of drama at the girl’s wake. Each line is followed by a refrain of cries, wailed by the whole company in unison
This passage presents the choral refrain as the communal vessel for grief in performed lamentation, fusing dramatic antiphony with repetitive collective keening at a funeral wake.
, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, 1974thesis
In a single kontákion, Romanos has exploited all available forms, strophe-refrain, dialogue and three-part form. Nor is his artistry ever static, developed for the sake of form alone.
Alexiou shows how the strophe-refrain structure in Byzantine sacred poetry integrates ritual form with theological depth, the refrain reinforcing Mary’s gradual realisation of the Crucifixion’s necessity.
, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, 1974supporting
the cry to Adonis is echoed in refrain throughout the poem by the Loves. Kythereia herself utters a passionate farewell, varying the ritual custom of the mourner’s last greeting to the dead
The refrain in Bion’s lament for Adonis functions as a literary echo of ritual mourning practice, sustaining the affective and cultic intensity of the goddess’s farewell.
, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, 1974supporting
This holding back is not an act of suppression but is rather one of forming a bigger container, a larger experiential vessel, to hold and differentiate
Levine reframes the volitional refrain from emotion as a constructive act of containment rather than repression, aligning somatic psychotherapy’s concept of withholding with expanded affective capacity.
, In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness, 2010supporting
Nor should it be said that I would have done better to refrain from writing things that a great many people should refrain from reading
Descartes invokes ‘refrain’ in its volitional-restraint sense as a question of intellectual responsibility, suggesting that the capacity to withhold is a criterion of philosophical fitness.
, Meditations on First Philosophy, 2008aside
no animal can refrain from seeking to get a thing that is presented to its view as suited to its nature… so the mind cannot refrain from giving approval to a clear object when presented to it
Cicero deploys ‘refrain’ to argue the natural impossibility of withholding assent from self-evident presentations, linking voluntary restraint directly to the epistemology of perception and consent.
, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), -45aside