Poetry, Philosophy, and Power in Virgil’s Georgics

CANCELLED Poetry, Philosophy, and Power in Virgil’s Georgics (Nicholas Freer, University of Iceland)

1:00pm - 2:00pm / Thursday 23rd April 2020 / Venue: Seminar Room 6, Rendall Building
Type: Seminar / Category: Department
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The University is closely monitoring national and international developments in relation to COVID-19 and taking actions as appropriate. As a result, we have taken the decision to cancel or postpone all University led public events until the end of April 2020. Thereafter, events will remain under review.

The health and wellbeing of our students, staff and visitors is our highest priority and while we realise that the cancellation of events will cause some inconvenience and disappointment, this temporary measure is aimed at ensuring that our response to the current situation remains responsible and informed by the latest public health advice and expertise.

We regret that the University cannot be held liable for any loss or damage, including but not limited to travel and accommodation costs, arising from this event cancellation.

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The utility of poetry was widely acknowledged by Roman authors of the late Republic and early Empire. The Augustan ideal of the vates, in particular, encapsulated “the belief that the poet has a serious contribution to make to the progress of his society, and that poetry and music have a regulatory and civilising effect” (Hardie 1986, 16). While Virgil at times also celebrates the importance of the poet’s task, these passages are regularly offset by others that appear to cast doubt upon the value of his art (see e.g. Putnam 1970; Johnson 1976, 99-114; Boyle 1986; Perkell 1989).

This paper argues that Virgil’s shifting representation of the poet in the Georgics was informed by Epicurean attitudes towards poetry, most notably the works of his teacher Philodemus, who called into question the moral utility of poetry and its efficacy as a mode of didaxis. Focusing on the didactic narrator’s relationship to Octavian, Virgil’s depiction of the archetypal poet Orpheus, and his selfrepresentation in the sphragis at the end of book 4, the paper aims to shed new light on Virgil’s conception of the nature and function of poetry. In the process, it reasserts the significance of philosophical intertexts within Virgil, while contributing to the broader ongoing debate about the relationship between form and function, message and medium in the Georgics.

This event is part of the Work in Progress Seminar Series.