LNW 5655: Roman Poets (Horace's Odes)

LNW 5655: Roman Poets (Horace’s Lyric) Dr. Tim Johnson; Dauer Hall 143

tjohnson@classics.ufl.edu

Course Objectives:

To read Horace's Epodes and Odes and to explore the basic interpretative questions that the text presents. When the student completes the course, it should be possible for s/he to frame an intelligent and thoughtful answer to the question, 'What is Horatian lyric?'.

Course Approach:

Criticism is not polemic. One does not lean over the text and beat meaning out of it with one critical approach and then another. The purpose of criticism is not to reduce the text to its lowest value and so strip it of any significant meaning. Instead, as Martin Buber argues, the text should be embraced as a living element with transforming powers. Sense comes when the world of the text contacts our own and together produce an idea. Critical approaches do offer different vantage points for understanding and appreciating the multiple senses of the text, but they are tools and not art. Further there is no clear division between textual and literary criticism: nothing replaces a close reading of the text, and all methods/approaches support a rich dialogue between the text and the reader. To learn to think outside the boxes, you must know what the boxes are.

Horace, although indebted to the poetry of Catullus, Lucretius, and Vergil among other Roman predecessors and contemporaries, represents the pinnacle of the Roman lyric achievement. His claim to have transferred into Latin the lyric meters of the Greeks (Archilochus, Sappho, Alcaeus, Xenophanes, Theognis and the other lyricists) is unique and unrivalled. The primary characteristic of lyric is its musicality: the variation and repetition of more complex metrical rhythms. The themes of lyric are also varied and include epic heroism, philosophy, politics, religious ritual, the pains and pleasures of life such as banqueting, singing, lovemaking, old age and mortality. Lyric by definition combines genres (brevity of expression combined with grand themes) and becomes a depiction of the human experience with all its many contradictions, joys, and sadness. Horatian lyric incorporates all these themes within a compressed poetic form. Horatian style is deceptive: common words, ideas, and rhythms often mask a sensitivity and depth of thought accomplished through word order and structure. Such subtleness, cleverness, humor, and attention to nuance are Horace’s strengths, and the tradition of Western Literature is in his debt. To read Horace is to learn the art of poetry.

Texts:

Required:

Garrison, Daniel H. (1991), Horace. Epodes and Odes: A New Annotated Latin Edition (University of Oklahoma Press).

D.R. Shackleton Bailey. (1995), Q. Horati Flacci Opera (B.G.Teubner).

Optional:

Nisbet, R.G.M. and Hubbard, M. (1989), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book I (Oxford).

. (1991), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book II (Oxford).

Activities: We will meet once a week. The session will be divided into roughly equal halves of reading and interpretive criticism.

Grading:

30% Class Preparation and Reading

30% Exams (Midterm and Final)

30% Workshop Papers and Presentations

10% Paper

*Remember daily work (redaing the text) is still the most important requirement. If you attend class, but are unprepared to read the passage or to even make a reasonable attempt, then you have effectively failed the assignment.

Primary Reading: The class sessions will be spent reading a number of Horatian lyrics and discussing their various textual questions in a workshop format. Not all of the material assigned will be covered word for word in class, and therefore students are encouraged to come prepared with questions. The following editions and commentaries will be on reserve in the Department.

Armstrong, David. (1989), Horace (New Haven).

Bentley, R. (1711) (ed.), Q. Horatius Flaccus, ex recensione et cum notis atque emendationibus Richardi Bentleii, editio tertia (Leipzig).

Commager, Steele. (1962), The Odes of Horace: A Critical Study (New Haven).

Fraenkel, Eduard. (1957) Horace (Oxford): 1-23; 400-449

Kiessling, A. and Heinze, R. Q. (1898) (edd.), Horatius Flaccus: Oden und Epoden (Berlin).

Nisbet, R. G. M. and Hubbard, M. (1970) (edd.), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book I (Oxford).

______ . (1978), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book II (Oxford).

Nisbet, R. G. M. and Rudd N., (2004), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book III (Oxford).

Orelli, J.C. (1851) (ed.), Q. Horatius Flaccus³ (Zurich).

Quinn, Kenneth. (1980) (ed.), Horace: The Odes (London).

Rudd, Niall. (1993) (ed.), Horace 2000: A Celebration (Ann Arbor).

Shackleton Bailey, David R. (1985) (ed.), Q. Horati Flacci Opera (Stuttgart).

Syndikus, H. P. (1973) (ed.), Die Lyrik des Horaz (Darmstadt).

West, D. (1995), Horace Odes I: Carpe Diem (Oxford).

. (1998), Horace Odes II: Vatis Amici (Oxford).

. (2002), Horace Odes III Dulce Periculum (Oxford).

Wickham, E.C. (1877-1891) (ed.), Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera Omnia: The Works of Horace with a Commentary (Oxford).

Williams, Gordon. (1968), Tradition and Originality in Horace's Odes (Oxford).

Zanker. P. (1988), The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor).

Secondary Reading: The secondary reading is designed to provide the student with an introduction to Horatian lyric. I have kept the reading assignments to a minimum since we will all be reading extensively in preparation for our workshops.

• David Armstrong (1989), Horace (New Haven).

• Cávarzere, A., Aloni, A., and A. Barchiesi (2001) (edd.), Iambic Ideas: Essays on a Poetic Tradition from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire (Lanham, MD).

• Denis Feeney (1993), Horace and the Greek Lyric Poets in Niall Rudd, Horace 2000 (Ann Arbor) 41-63.

• Eduard Fraenkel (1957), Horace (Oxford): 1-23; 400-449.

• Nisbet and Hubbard (edd.) (1970), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book 1 (Oxford): Introduction.

• Timothy Johnson (2004), A Symposion of Praise: Horace Returns to Lyric in Odes IV (Madison, WI).The hardcopy will be out sometime later this semester, but I will make the manuscript copy available on reserve.

• Michèle Lowrie (1997), Horace's Narrative Odes (Oxford).

• Oswyn Murray (1985), "Symposium and Genre in the Odes of Horace." JRS 75: 39-50.

• Ellie Oliensis (1998), Horace and the Rhetoric of Authority (Cambridge).

• Matthew Santirocco (1995), "Horace and Augustan Ideology," Arethusa 28: 225-243

• (1980), "Horace's Odes and the Ancient Poetry Book," Arethusa 13: 43-57.

• Zanker. P (1988), The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor): 101-239.

Workshop Reports: Each session we will take a close look at two to three of the poems assigned. A student will be assigned to present the poem to the class for a discussion lasting about 20-30 minutes per poem. You must first identify the poem's meter and read the poem in Latin. Then answer any grammatical questions on the reading. Next present the basic bibliography on the ode (the commentaries you found helpful and any other important research that has been done). Last set out the main interpretive concerns/questions in the ode (noting such items as its vocabulary, structure, language, metaphor, etc.) To prepare for the report, you should first consult the principal commentaries (e.g. N.-H. in Odes I and II) and work your way through the relevant bibliography. Finally prepare a handout (title of ode, meter, bibliography, structure, interpretive questions).

Paper (10-15 pp.): I am not impressed by length as much as by a precise and persuasive argument. The papers are due December 3.