Browsing by Subject "Latin poetry"
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Item Disarticulation in poetry : intertextuality, gender, and the body in the Vergilian centos(2022-05-03) Adams, Elizabeth Dorothy; Haimson Lushkov, Ayelet; Chaudhuri, Pramit; Gurd, Sean; McGill, Scott; Riggsby, AndrewThis dissertation argues that the Vergilian Latin centos have much more intertextual and literary value than is imparted by their Vergilian hypotexts. In Chapter 1, I argue that the most common intertextual approach to reading centos, which prioritizes Vergilian readings, is insufficient. I suggest through a reading of the Iudicium Paridis that we should consider how centos change the meaning of Vergil’s texts, not just how Vergil changes the meaning of centos. I show through my analysis of the cento Hercules et Antaeus that we can see centos engaging with non-Vergilian texts in ways beyond allusion. In Chapter 2, I consider Ovid’s reputation as a proto-centonist. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid’s wordplay is deeply bound up in his depictions of violence, but this has so far gone underacknowledged in studies of the centos. I argue that we can read the centos Progne et Philomela, Narcissus, and Hippodamia as feminist texts that give voice to women silenced in mythology. In Chapter 3, I give a close reading of the cento Hippodamia. I suggest that its tragic elements, which have so far been overlooked, encourage reading it in terms of Senecan tragedy, which like Ovid also represents the physical violence of the narrative in the text. I argue that the cento Hippodamia subtly erases violence from the protagonist’s experience by embodying it within the construction of the text. In Chapter 4, I turn to the Christian centos. I argue that they, too, represent the text as a body, and use the form of the cento to emphasize the promise of resurrection. Throughout, I show that the Latin centos do not rely on Vergil to generate meaning or depth: the Latin centos take an active role in reshaping the myths they represent.Item Poetic genetics : family, sexual reproduction, and community in Lucretius' De rerum natura(2018-08-17) Takakjy, Laura Chason; Dean-Jones, Lesley; Gordon, Pamela; Galinsky, G. Karl; Lushkov, Ayelet H.; White, Stephen A.; Hankinson, Robert J.My dissertation examines family, sexual reproduction, and community in Lucretius’ poem De Rerum Natura and reconsiders the importance of these topics in Lucretius’ formulation of Epicureanism for a Roman audience. I argue that Lucretius modifies Epicurus’ teachings about family and sex to render Epicureanism more palatable to a Roman audience. I explore the cultural resonance of the social metaphors Lucretius uses to explain atomic movement, particularly in Books 1-3, and I argue that Lucretius presents the atomic world as built on cooperative relationships. In light of my findings regarding Lucretian atomic movement, I propose a new reading of Lucretius’ views on love and sexual reproduction in Book 4. I argue that Book 4 presents love as a bivalent phenomenon and that Lucretius finds conjugal love as most natural and in line with the atomic universe. Building on my analysis of Lucretian theories of love and sexuality, I propose a new reading of Lucretius’ presentation of marriage in Book 5. I argue that family, rather than friendship, is presented in Lucretius’ anthropology as the foundational social relationship in society, and, in this respect, that Lucretius departs from Epicurus. Next, I propose that Lucretius considers religio to be the greatest harm to the family, and I offer a contextualization of Lucretian pietas in Roman culture. I conclude my project with an analysis of the “Sacrifice of Iphigenia,” which I propose portrays Agamemnon as committing a crime against nature since he interferes with the cycle of generational renewal by killing his daughter. I contend that in this episode Lucretius formulates an Epicurean virtue of pietas, which aims, above all, at maintaining the integrity of the Roman family.