An examination of the main characters in the Aeneid - Aeneas himself, Dido and Turnus - in the light of Virgil's contemporary Augustan political and literary ideology. The characters and the plot and incident of the epic are seen as embodying and exemplifying first the ancient ideals of kingship and concord, and second the Roman self-identification as at once 'Italian' and 'Trojan', and finally as reflecting the literary self-evaluation of the Augustan age. In the literary area, Virgil's relations with contemporary Roman elegy, with early Greek lyric and, most important, with Homer, are studied and reevaluated. Virgilian scholars and students of Augustan literature in general will find this book of interest to them.

Virgil's Augustan Epic

Literature & Fiction

Cairns, Francis

Classics

Cambridge University Press

In 30-15 BC Sextus Propertius composed at Rome four books of elegies which range from erotic to learned to political and exhibit an unparalleled richness of themes, concepts and language. This book investigates their sources and motives, examining Propertius' family background in Umbrian Asisium and tracing his career as he sought through poetry to restore his family's fortunes after the Civil Wars. Propertius' progress within the Roman poetic establishment depended on his patrons - Tullus, 'Gallus', Maecenas and Augustus. Initially his poetry was influenced radically by his elegiac predecessor C. Cornelius Gallus, arguably also the 'Gallus' who jointly patronised Propertius' first book. New heuristic techniques help to recover the impact on Propertius of Cornelius Gallus' (mainly lost) elegies. Propertius' subsequent move into Maecenas', and then Augustus', patronage had an equally powerful, ideological, impact; in his latter books he became (alongside Virgil and Horace) a major and committed Augustan voice.

Sextus Propertius: The Augustan Elegist

Tibullus was one of the leading poets of Augustan Rome. Professor Cairns examines in detail aspects of Tibullus' poetic craftsmanship - his learning, his interest in the meanings of words, his use of suspense and deception, his control of the structures of his elegies - and demonstrates the original qualities of Tibullus' verse. This examination is carried out by relating Tibullus' work at all points to the Hellenistic poetic tradition and the literary genres and conventions it developed. This book will be of particular interest to students of Latin and Hellenistic Greek literature, and, as all Greek is translated, it should also be useful to students of comparative literature.

Tibullus: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome

Tibullus was one of the leading poets of Augustan Rome. Professor Cairns examines in detail aspects of Tibullus' poetic craftsmanship - his learning, his interest in the meanings of words, his use of suspense and deception, his control of the structures of his elegies - and demonstrates the original qualities of Tibullus' verse. This examination is carried out by relating Tibullus' work at all points to the Hellenistic poetic tradition and the literary genres and conventions it developed. This book will be of particular interest to students of Latin and Hellenistic Greek literature, and, as all Greek is translated, it should also be useful to students of comparative literature.

History & Criticism

An examination of the main characters in the Aeneid - Aeneas himself, Dido and Turnus - in the light of Virgil's contemporary Augustan political and literary ideology. The characters and the plot and incident of the epic are seen as embodying and exemplifying first the ancient ideals of kingship and concord, and second the Roman self-identification as at once 'Italian' and 'Trojan', and finally as reflecting the literary self-evaluation of the Augustan age. In the literary area, Virgil's relations with contemporary Roman elegy, with early Greek lyric and, most important, with Homer, are studied and reevaluated. Virgilian scholars and students of Augustan literature in general will find this book of interest to them.

In 30-15 BC Sextus Propertius composed at Rome four books of elegies which range from erotic to learned to political and exhibit an unparalleled richness of themes, concepts and language. This book investigates their sources and motives, examining Propertius' family background in Umbrian Asisium and tracing his career as he sought through poetry to restore his family's fortunes after the Civil Wars. Propertius' progress within the Roman poetic establishment depended on his patrons - Tullus, 'Gallus', Maecenas and Augustus. Initially his poetry was influenced radically by his elegiac predecessor C. Cornelius Gallus, arguably also the 'Gallus' who jointly patronised Propertius' first book. New heuristic techniques help to recover the impact on Propertius of Cornelius Gallus' (mainly lost) elegies. Propertius' subsequent move into Maecenas', and then Augustus', patronage had an equally powerful, ideological, impact; in his latter books he became (alongside Virgil and Horace) a major and committed Augustan voice.

British & Irish

Original in conception and powerful in scope, Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry remains one of the most important books on early Greek, Hellenistic and Roman poetry in a generation. First published in the philological climate of the early 1970s, Francis Cairns' book was among the first works that sought to further our comprehension of difficult or obscure ancient poems by applying new literary-critical conventions and terminology, notably the concept of genre. Ancient literary studies have grown more sophisticated over the last years, and Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry now finds itself very much in the midst of current debates. The new edition includes a new Postscript by the author, and important corrections to the text, notes, and indices.  The original publisher remarked, "This is the first serious attempt to formulate a system of literary criticism for ancient poetry, derived wholly from ancient evidence. It is based on methods of generic analysis, assignment and interpretation applicable to all Greek and Roman poetry. It outlines what the author deduces are the creative principles informing ancient poets' approach to their subject matter, and establishes criteria that enable an objective discussion of the poems' originality and merit."  Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry examines uses of topoi and categories of genres, and offers detailed and insightful interpretations of many individual poems in both languages. It also highlights five specific generic sophistications, among them inversion and inclusion. The work is accompanied by extensive notes and indices, together with translations of the original texts that make it accessible and valuable to classicists and non-classicists alike.  One of the great contributions of Francis Cairns' work has been firmly to move the study of ancient poetry away from the realm of fictive literary biography, while grounding critical analysis in the techniques that were employed by ancient authors to create meaning.

Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry

Edinburgh Univ Pr

Volume 5 of PLLS was the last of the Liverpool series of seminar volumes. Between 1975 and 1985 the Liverpool Latin Seminar held 52 ordinary meetings and 4 colloquia, involving altogether 156 papers and participants from all over the world. Although many diverse approaches were represented in the Seminar, it was underpinned by two underlying convictions: first, that ancient literature functions at the highest intellectual level and deserves to be studied at that level; and second, that the ancient literatures can only be understood properly against the background of the societies in which they originated.

Classical Latin Poetry; Medieval Latin Poetry; Greek Poetry: Classical Latin Poetry; Medieval Latin Poetry; Greek Poetry (Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar)

Francis Cairns (Publications) Ltd

About the Author\nFrancis Cairns is Professor of Classical Languages at The Florida State University, having previously held the Chair of Latin in the University of Liverpool and the Chair of Latin Language and Literature in the University of Leeds. He is the author of numerous articles and of Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry (1972), Tibullus: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome (1979), Virgil's Augustan Epic (1989), Sextus Propertius: The Augustan Elegist (2006), Papers on Roman Elegy (1969-2003) (2007), Roman Lyric: Collected Papers on Catullus and Horace (2012) and Hellenistic Epigram: Contexts of Exploration (2016).

Vergil & Roman Elegy; Medieval Latin Poetry and Prose; Greek Lyric: Vergil & Roman Elegy; Medieval Latin Poetry and Prose; Greek Lyric (Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar)

Poetry

Medieval Latin Poetry and Prose (Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cairns, Francis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Cairns, Francis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cairns, Francis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Virgil's Augustan Epic

Sextus Propertius: The Augustan Elegist

Tibullus: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome

Tibullus: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome

Virgil's Augustan Epic

Sextus Propertius: The Augustan Elegist

Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry

Classical Latin Poetry; Medieval Latin Poetry; Greek Poetry: Classical Latin Poetry; Medieval Latin Poetry; Greek Poetry (Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar)

Vergil & Roman Elegy; Medieval Latin Poetry and Prose; Greek Lyric: Vergil & Roman Elegy; Medieval Latin Poetry and Prose; Greek Lyric (Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar)

Medieval Latin Poetry and Prose (Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar)