Vergil's political commentary in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid / Leendert Weeda ; managing editor, Katarzyna Grzegorek ; associate editor, Anna Borowska ; language editor, Manuela Rocchi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weeda, Leendert, author.

Contributor:

Grzegorek, Katarzyna, editor.

Borowska, Anna, editor.

Rocchi, Manuela, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Virgil.

Politics in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (183 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Warsaw, [Poland] ; Berlin, [Germany] : De Gruyter Open, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the book titled Vergil's political commentary in Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid, the author examines Vergil's political views by analyzing the whole of the poet's work. He introduces the notion of the functional model suggesting that the poet often used this instrument when making a political statement. New interpretations of a number of the Eclogues and passages of the Georgics and the Aeneid are suggested and the author concludes that Vergil's political engagement is visible in much of his work. During his whole career the poet was consistent in his views on several major political themes. These varied from, the distress caused by the violation of the countryside during and after the expropriations in the 40s B.C., to the horrors of the civil war and the violence of war in general, and the necessity of strong leadership. Vergil hoped and expected that Octavian would establish peace and order, and he supported a form of hereditary kingship for which he considered Octavian a suitable candidate. He held Cleopatra in high regard, and he appreciated a more meaningful role for women in society. Vergil wrote poetry that supported Augustus, but he had also the courage to criticize Octavian and his policies. He was a commentator with an independent mind and was not a member of Augustus' putative propaganda machine.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface And Acknowledgements

1 Introduction, Political Opinions, Propaganda

2 The Context

3 The Eclogues And The Georgics

4 The Aeneid: An Epic With A Commentary On Contemporary Affairs

5 Vergil's Political Views. Was He His Master's Voice?

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This eBook is made available Open Access. Unless otherwise specified individually in the content, the work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed June 26, 2015).

ISBN:

9783110456134

3110456133

9783110426427

3110426420

OCLC:

924644633