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This module introduces students to Latin poetry on erotic themes from the first century BCE with a particular focus on the development of Roman love elegy as a distinct genre. We will read a selection of poems from Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid as well as lesser-known names such as Gallus, Lygdamus, and Sulpicia, the latter a female poet, whose work amounts to the only literary texts written by a woman to have survived from ancient Rome. Reading through the poems chronologically and thematically, we will consider the aesthetic aims and values of these poets, the impact of cultural and societal norms relating to love, sex, and gender, and, ultimately, how the changing political climate of the period influenced the shape of Roman love elegy.
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PASSION AND POETRY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMAN LOVE ELEGY IN THE FIRST CENTURY BCE
