What Elegy Did Next

Module Code:

TBA

When taught:

n/a

Credit points:

20

Method of Assessment:

1 x 5,000 word essay

Teaching Methods:

Seminars; Module pack

Availability:

Residential and Distance students

Lecturer:

Contact hours:

20

Syllabus:    

Roman love elegy was immensely popular in Augustus’ reign. The texts interact closely with one another and share a typical set of characters – the ever changeable girlfriend, the poet lover, the rich rival… After Ovid’s Amores, the genre of elegy took different directions. Following Propertius Book 4 with its diverse and sometimes ‘unelegiac’ themes, Ovid used the elegiac genre to deal with Greek mythology, make-up advice, invective, Roman history, and his own banishment to the Black Sea coast in year 8 A.D, and elegiac themes prove pervasive even in the Metamorphoses. We will survey the characteristics of early Roman love elegy and why we may (or may not) consider it a different but related genre. We will discuss sections of Propertius Book 4, and look in detail at Ovid’s Roman festive calendar, the Fasti, and at his exile poetry.

The module investigates theoretical issues (e.g. what is a genre, how do we define it? How did Roman authors define elegy?), how the elegiac genre expands its scope but maintains some of its defining features, and what impact the presence of elegiac motifs and topoi has on the interpretation of material from with other genres. It is particularly useful to students with a literary specialization. It may also serve as a complementary course for students interested in Augustan and early Imperial times.

Learning outcomes:  

By the end of this module students should be able to: 

• discuss the development of the elegiac genre through the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.
• demonstrate a critical understanding of the prescribed texts and their genres.
• present a detailed literary analysis of the prescribed texts, particularly in relation to their place in the history of the genre and its relation to other genres (particularly epic); this may include features such as narratological technique, types of characters represented (e.g. are there traces of the amator/poeta and the puella of ‘canonical’ elegy in later elegiac writings?), analysis of literary topoi.
• engage in debate concerning the nature and definition of elegy, and its relationship to other genres such as didactic poetry and epic.
• demonstrate a critical assessment of secondary literature including a range of literary theory on the definition and development of the elegiac genre at Rome.
• demonstrate academic writing and presentation skills appropriate for postgraduate level.

Transferable and other skills involved:  

Academic writing skills.

Main recommended texts:  

• Barchiesi, A. (1997) The Poet and the Prince. Ovid and Augustan Discourse, Berkley et al.
• Claassen, J. M. (2008) Ovid Revisited. The Poet in Exile, London.
• Gibson, R. K; Greene, S.; Sharrock, A. (2006) The Art of Love. Bimillenial Essays on Ovid’s Ars amatoria and Remedia Amoris, Oxford.
• Hardie, P. (2002) Ovid’s Poetics of Illusion, Cambridge.
• Herbert-Brown, G. (1994) Ovid and the Fasti. A Historical Study, Oxford.
• Newlands, C. (1995) Playing with Time. Ovid and the Fasti, Ithaca and London.
• Williams, G. (1994) Banished Voices. Readings in Ovid’s Exile Poetry, Cambridge.

Evaluation (including student evaluation):  

Students will be asked to complete a questionnaire at the end of the module. This will be used by the Department in its annual review of all its teaching to help evaluate the module’s success. The external examiner will also have the opportunity to make comments and results of the questionnaires will be discussed in the SSCC.