Advanced Latin: Roman Elegy: Propertius

Catalog description

In this course we will explore the genre of Latin elegiac poetry as exemplified by one of its finest practitioners, the Augustan era lyric poet, Sextus Propertius. According to the famous rhetorician Quintilian, the elegiac verse of Roman poets such as Propertius threatened even to surpass the excellence previously established by the ancient Greek poets, the originators of the meter, the elegos: the elegiac couplet. We will do a close reading of Propertius' Monobiblos, arguably the quintessential expression of elegiac love poetry, centered on the extraordinary and mysterious figure of Cynthia, the poet's beloved, an enigmatic, elegant woman of exquisite literary and musical refinement. Classics majors and minors must take the course for a letter grade. It may be repeated for credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.