The Love Poems by Ovid

The Love Poems by Ovid

Ovid's love-poetry was typically original and innovative. His witty analysis in the Amores (Loves) of the elegiac relationship develops with relentless irony its essential paradox - love as simultaneously fulfilling and destructive - to its logical conclusion: definitive disestablishment of the poet-lover's role as presented by Gallus, Tibullus, and Propertius. In its place he went on to offer in the Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) and Remedia Amoris (Cures for Love) an equally brilliant presentation of an alternative and more realistic conception of love as a game at which both sexes can play without getting hurt - providing they stick to Ovid's rules. Under the surface of Ovid's wit there runs an undercurrent of serious meaning: the theme of the poet's complete control of his medium and his art and a proud consciousness of his achievements. His claim to be `the Virgil of elegy' is arrestingly justified in these extraordinarily accomplished poems. Alan Melville's accomplished translations match the sophisticated elegance of Ovid's Latin. Their witty modern idiom is highly entertaining. In this volume he has included the brilliant version of the Art of Love by Moore, published more than fifty years ago and still unequalled; the small revisions he has made will enhance the reader's admiration for Moore's achievement. This book is intended for general; students from 6th Form upwards following courses on Latin literature, classical literature, European literature, and comparative literature.

Ovid was a Roman poet who wrote about love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. He is known as the master of the elegiac couplet.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192821942
ISBN 10	0192821946
Title	The Love Poems
Author	Ovid
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	1990-09-01
Number of pages	301
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.