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Modules

Text and Context: Roman Love Elegy (CLA1406)

15 credits

This module addresses key issues of Roman love elegy, a genre that had a lifespan of just 50 years, but a profound and lasting influence on the way in which love is conceptualised and represented. Exploring the poems of Catullus, Propertius, Ovid, Tibullus and the female elegist Sulpicia, we will consider what it means to be ‘in love’ and to write poetry about being in love. How does poetry transform the world and create its own world? How do our elegists interact with previous love poets and with each other? How does their poetry communicate their playful personae, their idealised yet realistic lovers, and their rejections of Roman social ideals?