The Poetics of Latin Didactic
Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:27th Jun '02
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Some of the most famous literary works from antiquity are so-called didactic poems. Even the Greeks and Romans found it difficult to gain a theoretical understanding of this genre, and modern readers often avoid such texts, which they perceive as dry and overly technical. Volk offers a new theoretical look at this genre, discussing the characteristics that make a poem 'didactic' from the points of view of both theory and literary history, and tracing its history from Hesiod to Roman times. This discussion leads into detailed interpretations of four great Latin didactic poems: Lucretius' De rerum natura, Vergil's Georgics, Ovid's Ars Amatoria, and Manilius' Astronomica. Volk cocludes that didactic poems, though belonging to a genre often regarded as unpoetic, typically present themselves self-consciously as poetry and give particular attention to discussions of poetics.
... graduates and under-graduates who are working in this area would certainly gain from Volk's synthesis of ideas and clear exposition. * JACT Review *
Katharina Volk's The Poetics of Latin Didactic is the product of a superior mind steeped in the literature, both ancient and modern, relevant to her subject. Her analyses of her four didactic poets, Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid, Manilius, are clearly and elegantly written, persuasive, and sympathetic, revealing a dry but attractive sense of humour. It is hard to imagine any set of preconceptions that would prevent readers from finding their appreciation and understanding of Roman didactic poetry enhanced by this work. * Greece & Rome *
ISBN: 9780199245505
Dimensions: 223mm x 144mm x 22mm
Weight: 476g
304 pages