Backgrounds to Augustan Poetry

In the first century BC, Latin poetry underwent considerable changes - from the neoteric poetics of Catullus and his contemporaries, through the development of elegy, to the Roman themes that the Augustan poets finally adopted as their subject. Augustan poets were self-conscious and concerned with the works of their predecessors and contemporaries, yet there often appears a conflict between their professed poetics and what they in fact wrote. In his 'poetic biography' of the period, Professor Ross traces the developing attitude of these poets towards poetry as an art and considers why they came to write as they did. Discussion throughout is based on specific poems and passages, providing a background for critical interpretation. The book offers comprehensive and striking answers to long-standing questions and will be of importance to all students of Latin poetry.