Tilson Young ENGL – 2013 – G- European Civilization: Literature Dr. Myers 11/20/17 Literary Analysis of the First Ten Lines of the Aeneid The first 10 lines of the Aeneid set the stage for the entire poem. To fully understand these lines of poetry, you must first understand not only the actual literary meaning, but also the historical context, the theme, the allusion to other texts, and the biographical relevance of the poem to fully, in depth understand the poem. The works by Vergil, more specifically The Aeneid, has been called “Vergil’s best-known work and Roman literature by the Romans of his day, and the fluidity of its vivid portrayals of human emotion have earned it a legacy as one the greatest poems in the Latin language.” (Mastin) This shows not only was Vergil an important figure in Greek times but also is an important literary figure in modern time as well. The first 10 lines of the poem, translated by C. Day Lewis, is as follows: Arms, and the man I sing, who, fore’d by fate, And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate, Expell’d and exil’d, left the Trojan shore. Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore, And in the doubtful war, before he won The Latian realm, and built the desin’d town; His banish’d gods restor’d to rites divine, And settled sure succession in his line, From whence the race of Alban fathers come, And the long glories of majestic Rome. (Virgil) To fully understand the context of these lines, we must first look at the historical context of the lines. The Romans generally did not create myth but expanded on it and added their own take on it. Vergil, however, was above all the writers of the period. An interesting point to be made here is that poets of the day where also in some sense the historians too. This shows that historically speaking, poets could choose what portions of history they used, and which portions they made become mythology. But the importance of literature and more exactly, the Aeneid, was so important to the Roman Empire that the presence of Aeneid graffiti in a certain location indicates a school there. (Syed) Also during this period of time in ancient Greece, there was major political and societal change in the midst. With the fall of the Roman Empire and
He maintains his focus on Greek myths not only because of the sheer number of myths around the world, making it impossible to interpret and clarify them all, but also because European men, who would have been familiar with the myths from Greece, write most of the classics we analyze. He explains that these myths are not only a part of them but also “so much a part of the fabric of our consciousness, of our unconscious really, that we scarcely notice” (Foster, 51). Which suggests that, we can recognize Greek myths even if we do not realize it. With this simple fact presented to us, we no longer wonder why allusions to Greek myths have been used since they emerged and are still employed today. Myths are often exercised as “overt subject matter for poems and paintings and operas and novels” but more often “writers have…borrowed from and emulated” these myths (Foster, 52, 53). Instead of explaining every detail about every character, place or moment authors rely on other stories, such as myths, to expand and develop their tale. The writer will subtly hint at myths and hope you recognize their allusions to these old legends. Since we established that, we know these myths, whether consciously or not, we can take these allusions and decipher any hidden meanings the author has for us, giving each story a new level.
While the ending of The Aeneid might be seen to have multiple significances, I believe that Virgil ended the poem the way he did to make a statement about the use of power to achieve dominance and rulership: namely, that a lust for nothing but power will ultimately consume. The poem ends with Turnus and Aeneas facing each other one-on-one on the battlefield. However, it should be noted that there are fundamental differences between the philosophies of the two combatants which should first be grasped to fully understand the significance of Aeneas’s actions in ending the war. Before the battle between Aeneas and Turnus begins, the reader gets a glimpse of Turnus’s philosophy regarding the stakes of the battle. “Either I’ll send, with my hand, this deserter of Asia, this Dardan, / Down to the Pit of the Damned—and the Latins can sit down and watch while / My lone sword is refuting the charge of dishonor we all share; / Or you [Latinus] must share my defeat. And Lavinia must go as this man’s wife.” (12.14-17) Turnus believes that in war, there is no possible outcome but for one leader and his entire army to be wiped out in the other side’s pursuit of honor and glory. Aeneas’s views on the battle are displayed earlier in the poem, when he journeys down into the underworld and is instructed in Trojan battle philosophy by his deceased father Anchises. “You, who are Roman, recall how to govern mankind with your power. / That will be your special ‘Arts’: the enforcement of peace as
The Aeneid, the famous epic poem written by Virgil, depicts the struggle of establishing an empire. The beginning of The Aeneid introduces Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus, whose fate is to find a new home in Italy after the fall of Troy. Throughout the perilous journey, Aeneas faces great obstacles as he strives to fulfill his prophecy and gradually transform into the ideal Virgilian hero. To emphasize his growth, I will discuss three themes in this essay: the extent of free will as it relates to fate, the influence of divine beings on mortals, and the principles of morality. All of these ideas serve as an understanding as to why Aeneas is unable to act on his own accord. This leads me to defend the view that humans require the positive guidance of a mentor figure to resist their self-indulgence.
Now that you have read the poem and considered the meanings of the lines, answer the following questions in a Word doc or in your assignment window:
Ancient Rome produced a number of literary geniuses, which included Marcus Cicero, Horace, and Virgil. The following excerpt from The Humanistic Tradition describes one of Virgil’s most famous works, “The Aeneid was not the product of an oral tradition, as were the Homeric epics: rather, it is a literary epic . . . No summary of the Aeneid can represent the monumental impact of a work that would become the foundation for the education of the Latin language” (Fiero 146). Ancient Roman works such as The Aeneid have had a profound influence on countless writers, poets, and literary scholars including Shakespeare, James Joyce, and Robert Graves. These ancient civilizations also made a variety of other contributions to western civilization.
Virgil’s The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The poem details the journey of Aeneas and his men after they are forced to flee burning Troy and as they wander the seas in search of land suitable to found a new Troy. Throughout the many books, the Trojans suffer through the Trojan War, the loss of their home, fierce storms, horrible monsters, and the wrath of the gods. A major theme of The Aeneid is human suffering as the characters in the poem experience the full front of despair and pain.
Virgil came to be regarded as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid can be considered a national epic of Rome and has been extremely popular from its publication to the present day.
Rome was experiencing a great deal of internal turmoil during the period when Virgil wrote the Aeneid. There was somewhat of an identity crisis in Rome as it had no definitive leader, or history. With the ascension of Augustus to the throne, Rome was unified again. Still, it had no great book. The Greeks had their Odyssey, giving them a sense of history and of continuity through time. A commonly held view is that the Aeneid attempts to provide the Romans with this sense of continuity or roots. There is a great deal of textual evidence to support this interpretation. Virgil makes numerous references to the greatness of Rome through "ancient" prophecies. Clearly, the entire poem is an account of
The Aeneid, written by Virgil, was written in Rome between 30 and 19 B.C. Virgil wrote many of his writings during the time of Octavian, the estranged nephew to Caeser. During the beginning of the times of Octavian and the time of these writings Rome was in a state of civil war, which later turned into the most peaceful place in the world. Many people were torn from their homes and new boundaries were created. It is important to know the culture and gender roles of the people, the person in power, and the system of government in place at the time of the writing.
Two epic poems from two great civilizations depict their authors' varying views of the Underworld: The Odyssey and The Aeneid. The Greek poet Homer describes the hardships of Odysseus and his struggle to return home to his beloved wife and family after the Trojan War in The Odyssey. The Roman poet Virgil composed The Aeneid for the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus, in order to rebuild Rome after the civil war had ended. The Aeneid portrays a demigod, Aeneas, whose mission is to create a grand city that will be known as Rome. This paper analyzes the differences and similarities in how Virgil and Homer view the Underworld in The Odyssey
Intro – Begin by talking about how people often see Aeneid by Virgil as focusing on the events surrounding the Trojan war, but an equally important part of the story is the prevalent theme of duty. For instance, if one looks at Aeneas one can see his devotion towards caring for his people, and his persistence to follow his duty. Because of the emphasize that Virgil places on Aeneas devotion to his people and his duty to obey the gods, one can begin to theorize that Virgil believed duty was the most important quality a man could possess. Thesis: Often times, the Aeneid carries the reputation as a book centering around the founding of Rome, however, without the constant reminder of duty, one cannot fully view Virgil’s story as he intended.
Because the poem is long, it won’t be quoted extensively here, but it is attached at the end of the paper for ease of reference. Instead, the paper will analyze the poetic elements in the work, stanza by stanza. First, because the poem is being read on-line, it’s not possible to say for certain that each stanza is a particular number of lines long. Each of several versions looks different on the screen; that is, there is no pattern to the number of lines in each stanza. However, the stanzas are more like paragraphs in a letter than
The poem begins with two lines which are repeated throughout the poem which convey what the narrator is thinking, they represent the voice in
The lines 384-425 in the Aeneid book 6 most directly correlate with the suffering theme that is found throughout the passages. The underworld is a dark and depressing place, where it seems as though the only light sources are the pits of lava and fires brewing about. Charon, the ferryman across the River Styx, is not only a suspect and depressing person himself, but the river he guards and transports souls across is not one to be trifled with. It
The horrendous death of the trojan priest Laocoön and his sons is a classical event associated with the final days of Troy, inspiring works in literature as well as visual arts. Book 2 of The Aeneid, by the Latin poet Virgil, and the 1st Century CE marble sculpture ‘Laocoön and Sons’ are two famed works that are inspired by the Laocoön Episode. Though both the sculpture and the text are canonical works of their own genre, the latter is more superior in terms of delivering a comprehensive narrative on the Laocoön episode. The Aeneid amplifies movements of Laocoön and the serpents using literary devices and adopts a time frame spanning from the arrival of serpents to the death of Laocoön to deliver a complete narrative, whereas the sculpture, though using dynamic movements and utilizes a single moment within the time frame of the text, fails to contain a general, uninformed viewer within the episode’s context.