The criticism of didactic poetry : essays on Lucretius, Virgil, and Ovid / Alexander Dalzell.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Dalzell presents three of the major didactic poems in the classical canon, the De rerum natura of Lucretius, the Georgics of Virgil, and the Ars amatoria of Ovid, and considers what tools are available for their understanding.

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CHOICE Review

Two of the five essays in this volume are new; the other three are revised and enlarged versions of the author's lectures at the University of Toronto. Dalzell did "not [think] it necessary to disguise their origin as lectures or to smother the personal voice," and the style, relaxed and direct, though poised and highly literate, communicates a sense of pleasure lacking in many learned critical studies. The author stresses the importance of the poet's attitude toward the reader, the implied student, and toward the didactic message as manifested in the poem itself. Lucretius strives zealously to communicate Epicurean ideas, but his primary aim is poetic, not philosophic. Virgil's Georgics resists categorizing: the core intent is didactic, but "the poem can never have been read as a farmer's manual." Ovid's Ars amatoria is mock didactic, "a didactic poem for those who do not need to learn." Dalzell's most technical essay is a valuable inquiry into Lucretius's philosophical language. Anyone interested in generic studies, in didactic poetry in particular, or in poetry in general will find this volume rewarding; and it is as dulce as it is utile. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty; general audiences. W. W. de Grummond; Florida State University