Ingrid wrote:
Hi My name is Ingrid. I am interested in reading Roman poetry (preferably short poetry).If you have any information regarding the matter (on the web site), please advise me. Your help would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Ingrid
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Hi, Ingrid
Now, there's a thought --- Maybe I will put up some excerpts from Ovid or Juvenal on the site in the next month or two. Of course, most of what I have access to is translated into English so the metre and rhyme may be a bit off. However, the Romans as a society valued the well - spoken and well -written word and some of their poetry is exquisite in spite of mangled metre. Some of their later writing tended to be monotonous panegyric extolling the virtues of the patron who provided the poet with food, clothing, and access to Roman society.
Ancient Romans and Greeks loved puns and many of these puns had a visual component which is evident even today on some of the coins they struck.
Perhaps the most famous piece of epic Roman poetry is Virgil's Aeneid. In reading the Aeneid, one can really grasp what the Roman thought and felt about his gods, his relationship to family and the state, and the emphasis he placed on the stern Latin values of gravitas, virtus, and pietas.
Fortunately, translations of the Aeneid are widely available in most languages. Penguin Classics editions exist for Ovid's Erotic Poems and Juvenal's Sixteen Satires. These should be quite readily available at a good bookstore.
I hope this helps,
Jay King