Virgil: The AeneidThe Aeneid is a landmark of literary narrative and poetic sensibility. This 2004 guide gives a full account of the historical setting and significance of Virgil's epic, and discusses the poet's use of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as the most celebrated episodes in the poem, including the tragedy of Dido and Aeneas' visit to the underworld. The volume examines Virgil's psychological and philosophical insights, and explains the poem's status as the central classic of European culture. The final chapter considers the Aeneid's influence on later writers including Dante and the Romantics. The guide to further reading has been updated and will prove to be an invaluable resource to students coming to The Aeneid for the first time. |
Contents
Background | 1 |
2 Life of Virgil | 7 |
3 The Eclogues | 10 |
4 The Georgics | 15 |
5 Metrical unity and continuity | 19 |
Virgil and Homer | 23 |
7 The Aeneas Legend | 24 |
8 The Odyssean Aeneid | 26 |
15 The world of the dead | 71 |
16 Fatherfigures | 79 |
17 Juno | 83 |
18 War and heroism | 87 |
19 Fate and free will | 90 |
20 Conclusions | 94 |
The afterlife of the Aeneid | 97 |
22 Virgil and Dante | 98 |
9 The Iliadic Aeneld | 30 |
Reading the Aeneid | 34 |
11 The story | 36 |
12 Structure | 40 |
13 Expression and sensibility | 47 |
14 Narrative technique | 63 |
23 Virgil and renaissance epic | 100 |
24 Virgil and romanticism | 102 |
Principal characters of the poem | 104 |
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Common terms and phrases
Achilles Actium Aeneas Aeneid Alexandrian alliteration Anchises ancient aristeia Augustan Augustus Augustus Caesar battle of Actium book XII Caesar Camilla Carthage century civilisation culture-heroes Cumae Dante Day Lewis dead death defeat deity destiny Dido Dido's discourse divine Dryden eclogue Elysian fields epic episode Euryalus Evander exile fall of Troy famous fate father fight fourth eclogue future Georgics ghost goddess gods golden age Greek Hector Hercules heroic Hesiod hexameter Homer Iliad Italian Italy journey Juno Juno's Jupiter Jupiter's killed by Turnus king labours land Latin Latium Lavinia legend literary Mezentius mission modern reader moral narrative Nisus Odyssey Olympus Pallas passage pastoral peace phrase pietas poem poem's poet poet's poetry Priam prophecy prophetic rhetoric Roman Rome Romulus Rutuli sense Sibyl simile souls speech spondees story structure survive temple theme Tiber tradition Trojan hero Turnus underworld verse victory VIII Virgil Virgilian words