Propertius, Tibullus and Ovid: A Selection of Love Poetry
By Anita Nikkanen
Abstract: The selected poems depict the bitter-sweet love affairs of the poet-lovers and their mistresses, from the heartbreak of rejection to the elation at love reciprocated. While Propertius’ and Ovid’s setting is the city and their poems show us such details of urbane Roman life as drinking parties and elaborate hair-dressing, Tibullus introduces the idyll of the countryside to the genre. Their sophisticated poems combine intense emotion with wit and irony, and celebrate the life of love and their mistresses, Propertius’ Cynthia, Tibullus’ Delia and Nemesis, and Ovid’s Corinna.
Published in 2016 by Bloomsbury