The Criticism of Didactic Poetry : Essays on Lucretius, Virgil, and Ovid

This is the third volume of the Robson Classical Lectures to reach publication. The series takes its name from Donald Oakley Robson (1905-76); who graduated in Honours Classics from Victoria College in the University of Toronto in 1928. He went on to earn his MA (1929) and his PhD (1932) from the University of Toronto. After teaching at the University of Western Ontario for seventeen years, he returned to his Alma Mater, and taught Latin there from 1947 until his retirement in 1975. His wife, Rhena Victoria Kendrick (1901-82), also graduated in Honours Classics from Victoria College in 1923, with the Governor General's Gold Medal. They were generous benefactors of their college. In Professor Robson 1 s will he made provision that, from time to time, several public lectures should be delivered on a classical theme by a distinguished scholar, and then, after appropriate revision, published. The series as a whole will, we believe, have a wide appeal among those who are interested in ancient Greece and Rome, and in the culture of classical antiquity. We had the good fortune to persuade Alexander Dalzell, Professor Emeritus of Classics at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, to participate in our project. He had been our colleague at Trinity College from 1954 to 1989. In October 1990 he presented three public lectures on didactic poetry. They were greatly appreciated by his audience, which included both specialists and non-specialists; it was clear that they would provide the basis for a sound, scholarly, innova-Foreword x / Foreword tive book. We now present that book, a distinguished contribution to a distinguished series.

Shelley thought all didactic poetry an 'abhorrence,' and most of the Romantics agreed with this judgment. Critics in this century have been less dismissive of the genre, but seem puzzled by it. There has been a tendency to treat a didactic poem as though it were a kind of lyric, in which the focus of interest lies in the emotions and feelings of the writer. But didactic poetry has a purpose, history, and character of its own. This original and important book asks the question, 'What can the practising critic usefully say about a didactic poem?'

This is not primarily a book about theory, but a guide to practical criticism combined with a fresh reading of the chosen texts. Through a close analysis of three of the major didactic poems in the classical canon, the De rerum natura of Lucretius, the Georgics of Virgil, and the Ars amatoria of Ovid, Dalzell's aim is to consider these poems as a genre and to ascertain what tools are available to the critic for their understanding. He raises questions about the limits of genre criticism, the relationship of poetry and knowledge, reader-response, and historical reception. Can there be a poetry of statement? Is all genuine poetry necessarily fictive in some sense? To what extent is a serious didactic intent compatible with poetry?

The Criticism of Didactic Poetry is primarily of interest to classicists. It will also be of great value to scholars of other literatures who are interested in the history of the genre or in the theoretical debate about whether poetry can encompass knowledge. This book is a significant original contribution to the field, with the potential to influence future scholarly thinking on didactic poetry.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. The Criticism of Didactic Poetry -- 2. The De rerum natura of Lucretius -- 3. The Philosophical Language of Lucretius -- 4. The Georgics of Virgil -- 5. Ovid: The Ars amatoria -- Notes -- Bibliography of Works Cited Dalzell presents three of the major didactic poems in the classical canon: the De rerum natura of Lucretius, the Georgics of Virgil, and the Ars amatoria of Ovid, considering what tools are available for their understanding.