Ovid: Amores Book 3: Edited with an Introduction, Translation, and Commentary

One of the most significant and recognizable Roman contributions to European and world literature is the Augustan love elegy. The first thorough commentary on Ovid's Amores Book 3, the final collection of love poems written in the Augustan era, is presented in this volume. It includes an introduction for the general reader that emphasizes the book's poetic structure, Ovid's unique style, and the connection of the entire three-book collection to earlier love elegy. P. J. Davis' commentary focuses on various issues, such as Ovid's engagement with other poets, his use of rhetoric and wit, his employment of verbal and metrical patterns, textual difficulties, and linguistic problems. Book 3 of Amores takes love elegy in new directions, including a dream-vision poem, a dutiful husband's account of a religious pilgrimage, and the speech of a pickup artist trying to seduce a girl at the races. Its most striking feature is its shift away from obsession with a single mistress to reflection on the poet's place in the tradition of Latin love poetry.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

One of the most significant and distinctive contributions to European and global literature comes from the Augustan love elegy. This book offers the first comprehensive commentary in any language on Ovid's Amores Book 3, the final collection of love poems written in the Augustan era. The commentary has been designed to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible, with all quotations from ancient Greek and modern languages translated. It includes an introduction for the general reader that focuses on the book's poetic design, the distinctive features of Ovid's style, and the relationship of the whole three-book collection to earlier love elegy and its treatment of political and social issues. It also offers an edition of the text of Book 3 based on printed editions, accompanied by a translation designed to clarify the surface meaning of the Latin.

P. J. Davis' commentary focuses on various topics, including Ovid's engagement with the works of earlier poets, his use of rhetoric and wit, his employment of verbal and metrical patterns, textual difficulties, and, of course, the elucidation of linguistic problems.

Amores Book 3 takes love elegy in new directions, offering us, for example, a dream-vision poem, a dutiful husband's account of a religious pilgrimage, and the speech of a pickup artist trying to seduce a girl at the races. Perhaps its most striking feature is its shift away from obsession with a single mistress to reflection on the poet's place in the tradition of Latin love poetry, with poems explicitly devoted to issues raised by Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius.

Weight: 728g
Dimension: 163 x 242 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198871309