Generic Enrichment in Vergil and Horace

Abstract

Abstract This book responds to an important question of literary history: why did the period 40-13 BC in Rome produce such a rich range of complex poetical texts? The co-existence of great poets such as Vergil and Horace in contemporary literary circles, and the political stimulus and stability offered by the upheavals of the triumviral period and the following pax Augusta offer a sociological and historical background, but the concern here is with literary complexity and literary history. As has long been observed, generic concerns and generic mixtures are central to Augustan poetry. As has also been observed (e.g., in Kroll's formulation of the ‘crossing of genres’), this feature recalls the poetry of Ptolemaic Alexandria which offers many literary-historical parallels. Both were periods of literature where poets operated under the shadow of classical Greek predecessors, and strove for novelty, either by creating new genres or by varying existing ones through ‘contamination’ with other kinds of writing. Generic issues are examined through a double lens — that of ancient generic markers and that of modern genre theory — in an approach which owes much to the work of Gian Biagio Conte. The language and other characterizing patterns of ancient poetical genres constitute the basic material of this book, but some fundamental theoretical ideas are needed to categorize and order that material. How can we define a literary genre in ancient terms (e.g., should we follow Francis Cairns)? Is the attractive distinction between genres and modes made by Alastair Fowler of use for the poetry of Augustan Rome? The ultimate conclusion of this book is that many poetic genres were profoundly enriched in the Augustan period by close encounters with other genres. The emphasis is on texts and genres rather than authors, since the whole premiss of the study is that generic features, working within an established tradition, are more easily recovered than authorial intentions.