Virgil on the nature of things : the Georgics, Lucretius, and the didactic tradition / Monica R. Gale.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gale, Monica (Monica R.), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Virgil. Georgica.

Virgil.

Lucretius Carus, Titus. De rerum natura.

Lucretius Carus, Titus.

Lucretius Carus, Titus--Influence.

Virgil--Knowledge--Literature.

Virgil--Philosophy.

Didactic poetry, Latin--History and criticism.

Didactic poetry, Latin.

Philosophy, Ancient, in literature.

Allusions in literature.

Intertextuality.

Rome--In literature.

Rome.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 321 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Summary:

The Georgics has for many years been a source of fierce controversy among scholars of Latin literature. Is the work optimistic or pessimistic, pro- or anti-Augustan? Should we read it as a eulogy or a bitter critique of Rome and her imperial ambitions? This book suggests that the ambiguity of the poem is the product of a complex and thorough-going engagement with earlier writers in the didactic tradition: Hesiod, Aratus and - above all - Lucretius. Drawing on both traditional, philological approaches to allusion, and modern theories of intertextuality, it shows how the world-views of the earlier poets are subjected to scrutiny and brought into conflict with each other. Detailed consideration of verbal parallels and of Lucretian themes, imagery and structural patterns in the Georgics forms the basis for a reading of Virgil's poem as an extended meditation on the relations between the individual and society, the gods and the natural environment.

Contents:

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; PREFACE; ABBREVIATIONS; 1 Introduction: influence, allusion, intertextuality; 2 Beginnings and endings; 3 The gods, the farmer and the natural world; 4 Virgil s metamorphoses: mythological allusions; 5 Labor improbus; 6 The wonders of the natural world; 7 The cosmic battlefield: warfare and military imagery; 8 Epilogue: the philosopher and the farmer; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX OF PASSAGES CITED; GENERAL INDEX;

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-287) and indexes.

ISBN:

1-107-12027-6

1-280-42973-9

0-511-17328-8

0-511-01732-4

0-511-15234-5

0-511-32746-3

0-511-48218-3

0-511-04596-4

OCLC:

475916388