Kategoria BISAC: Poetry >> Ancient & Classical

In a fresh interpretation of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things, Charles Segal reveals this great poetical account of Epicurean philosophy as an important and profound document for the history of Western attitudes toward death. He shows that this poem, aimed at promoting spiritual tranquillity, confronts two anxieties about death not addressed in Epicurus's abstract treatment--the fear of the process of dying and the fear of nothingness. Lucretius, Segal argues, deals more specifically with the body in dying because he draws on the Roman concern with corporeality as well as on the...

Finalist, Literary...

A Handbook to the Reception of Ovid presents more than 30 original essays written by leading scholars revealing the rich diversity of critical engagement with Ovid's poetry that spans the Western tradition from antiquity to the present day.

• Offers innovative perspectives on Ovid's poetry and its reception from antiquity to the present day
• Features contributions from more than 30 leading scholars in the Humanities.
• Introduces familiar and unfamiliar figures in the history of Ovidian reception.
• Demonstrates the enduring and transformative power...

The most sophisticated and daring poetic ironist of the early Roman Empire, Publius Ovidius Naso, is perhaps best known for his oft-imitated Metamorphoses. But the Roman poet also wrote lively and lewd verse on the subjects of love, sex, marriage, and adultery--a playful parody of the earnest erotic poetry traditions established by his literary ancestors. The Amores, Ovid's first completed book of poetry, explores the conventional mode of erotic elegy with some subversive and silly twists: the poetic narrator sets up a lyrical altar to an unattainable woman only to knock it...

Wang An-shih (1021-1086 C.E.) was a remarkable figure not only one of the great Sung Dynasty poets, but also the most influential and controversial statesman of his time. Although Wang had little interest in the grandeur of high office and political power, he took the responsibility of serving the people seriously. He rose to become prime minister, and in this position he instituted a controversial system of radically egalitarian social reforms to improve the lives of China s peasants. Once those reforms were securely in place, Wang retired to a reclusive life of artistic and spiritual...

Florence Verducci challenges the presuppositions and expectations that have led to embarrassed censure of the wit and comic irreverence that Ovid wove into these dramatic monologues, addressed by his heroines to absent lovers.

Originally published in 1986.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover...

The Iliad is the first and the greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization--the cornerstone of Western culture and an epic poem without rival in world literature. The story centers on the critical events in the last year of the Trojan War, which lead to Achilleus's killing of Hektor and the fall of Troy. But Homer's theme is not simply war or...