Eros at Dusk: Ancient Wedding and Love Poetry

by Katherine Wasdin

Overview

This book analyzes the relationship between wedding poetry and love poetry in the classical world. By treating both Greek and Latin texts, it offers an innovative and wide-ranging discussion of the poetic representation of social occasions. The discourses associated with weddings and love affairs both foreground ideas of persuasion and praise even though they differ dramatically in their participants and their outcomes. Furthermore, these texts make it clear that the brief, idealized, and eroticized moment of the wedding stands in contrast to the long-lasting and harmonious agreement of the marriage. At times, these genres share traditional forms of erotic persuasion, but at other points, one genre purposefully alludes to the other to make a bride seem like a paramour or a paramour like a bride. Explicit divergences remind the audience of the different trajectories of the wedding, which will hopefully transition into a stable marriage, and the love affair, which is unlikely to endure with mutual affection. Important themes include the threshold; the evening star; plant and animal metaphors; heroic comparisons; reciprocity and the blessings of the gods; and sexual violence and persuasion. The consistency and durability of this intergeneric relationship demonstrates deep-seated conceptions of legitimate and illegitimate sexual relationships. By examining these two types of poetry in tandem, Eros at Dusk adds fresh insight into the social concerns and generic composition of these occasional poems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190869113
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/25/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Katherine Wasdin is Assistant Professor at the George Washington University. Her research focuses on gender and genre in Greek and Latin poetry. She also has interests in the ancient novel and reception studies. Her publications include articles on Claudian's wedding poetry, chronology in Catullus 64, and the reception of classical poets in a novel by Kathy Acker.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements List of Images Texts and Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One: Catullan Women on the Threshold Chapter Two: Allusive Superstars Chapter Three: Cultivating Romance Chapter Four: Wild Horses and Beasts of Burden Chapter Five: Modeling Perfection Chapter Six: Divine Reciprocity Chapter Seven: Persuasive Violence Conclusion Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"If love's your thing, try Katherine Wasdin's Eros at Dusk, which puts Graeco-Latin wedding poems and love poetry between the same covers." — Christopher Whitton, University of Cambridge

"Wasdin's beautifully written book expertly guides readers through the complexities of Greek and Roman nuptial and erotic poetry and will delight established scholars and students alike. Her learned and witty approach to the texts provides crucial reconsiderations of long-accepted, traditional assignments of genre to these ancient yet perennially fascinating poems." —Karen Klaiber Hersch, Temple University

"In this wide-ranging and stimulating examination of the many shared elements of marital and erotic verse, Katherine Wasdin challenges the long-standing distinctions between the two modes and argues for a dialogic relation between them. This book will be useful to anyone interested in love poetry and in expressions for love in many genres beyond." -Sharon L. James, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

From the Publisher