THE CLASSICAL SPRING POEM

Despite the existence of valuable commentaries on some Classical spring poems, this area of study has been insufficiently explored. This book investigates, through the detailed analysis of the specific spring poems (Catullus 46; Horace Odes 1. 4, 4. 7, 4. 12; Palatine Anthology 9. 363, 10. l, 2, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16 and Ovid Tristia 3.12), the evolution undergone by this genre from the third century B.C. to the sixth century AD. From the spring poems of the Palatine Anthology to Ovid's Tr. 3.12, the genre has known a remarkable evolution. Despite the apparent simplicity of the theme, the authors of the Classical spring poems have reached high levels of sophistication in the way they have succeeded in transforming a relatively straightforward poetic form into a complex and sophisticated genre. Since this series of poems is more than a simple literary parlour game, but constitutes a genre on its own that illustrates, through its major features, typical aspects of Classical poetry, the analysis undertaken in this book gives the Greek and Latin spring poems the critical attention they fully deserve.