What meter is Latin epic written in?

Latin epic, like Greek epic, uses dactylic hexameter, a quantitative six-foot meter that Virgil brought to a high level of refinement in the Aeneid.

Who are the major Augustan poets?

The leading poets of the Augustan age are Virgil, author of the Aeneid, Horace, master of lyric and satire, and Ovid, known for elegy and the Metamorphoses.

Latin Poetry

The poetry of Rome — epic, lyric, elegy, satire, and pastoral — from Catullus and the Augustan poets to the imperial period, studied for its language, meter, and art.

Definition

The study of Latin poetic literature across its genres, including its meters, language, and literary techniques.

Scope

This topic covers the major genres and authors of Latin verse: the epic of Virgil, Lucan, and others; the lyric and odes of Horace and Catullus; the elegy of Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid; satire and pastoral; together with Latin metrics, poetic diction, and the conventions of allusion and imitation that link Latin poetry to its Greek models.

Core questions

What are the major genres of Latin poetry and their conventions?
How do Latin meters work and how do they shape poetic effect?
How do Roman poets engage with Greek and earlier Latin models?
How do close reading and commentary illuminate Latin poems?

Key theories

Allusion and intertextuality: The understanding, developed in modern Latin scholarship, that Roman poetry is built on systematic allusion to Greek and earlier Latin models, so that meaning emerges through the dialogue between texts.

History

Latin poetry began with adaptations of Greek genres and reached its height in the late Republic and the Augustan age, when Virgil, Horace, and Ovid produced works that became canonical and were studied throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages. Modern scholarship reads these poems through detailed line-by-line commentaries and through study of meter, allusion, and genre.

Debates

Imitation versus originality: Scholars debate how Roman poets balance dependence on Greek and earlier Latin models with originality, and how allusion should be interpreted as a source of meaning.

Key figures

R. G. M. Nisbet
Margaret Hubbard
Roland Austin
Edward Kenney

Seminal works

austin1971
nisbethubbard1970
raven1965

Frequently asked questions

What meter is Latin epic written in?: Latin epic, like Greek epic, uses dactylic hexameter, a quantitative six-foot meter that Virgil brought to a high level of refinement in the Aeneid.
Who are the major Augustan poets?: The leading poets of the Augustan age are Virgil, author of the Aeneid, Horace, master of lyric and satire, and Ovid, known for elegy and the Metamorphoses.