Exemplary Traits: Reading Characterization in Roman Poetry

By J. Mira Seo

Abstract: How did Roman poets create character? This book frames this question through the cultural and intellectual horizons of Roman authors and audiences. By applying the philosophical, rhetorical, and cultural discourses of selfhood and exemplarity to the poetics of character, we can become more aware of characterization’s function in Roman poetry. Through a series of case studies, this book expands our awareness of characterization in Roman poetry both as a literary practice and as a discourse of the self. Individual character studies examine the dynamics of literary genealogy, Stoic hagiography, exemplarity, and intertextuality in Vergil’s Aeneid, Lucan, Senecan tragedy, and Statius’ Thebaid.

Published in 2013 by Oxford University Press

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