Advanced Latin: Horace's Convivial Odes

Course Description:

In this course, we read Horace's convivial odes—a group of roughly 18 poems connected by a collocation of motifs, which over the last century have come to be read as Horace's carpe diem poetry. We will study what themes permeate Horace's carpe diem poetry, from their convivial prescriptions and uses of nature to their function within a Roman dinner. Students will also memorize Horace's meters and be able to identify meters and read them correctly.

Primary Text:

C. 1.4 1.9, 1.11, 2.3, 2.7, 2.10, 2.14, 3.8, 3.17, 3.19, 3.28, 3.29, 4.1, 4.7, 4.11, 4.12, and Epode 13.

Secondary Reading:

Davis, Gregson. “Chapter 3: Modes of Consolation: Convivium and Carpe Diem.” In Polyhymnia: The Rhetoric of Horation Lyric Discourse, 145–88. University of California Press, 1991.

Bardon, Henri. “« Carpe diem ».” Revue des Études Anciennes 46, no. 3 (1944): 345–55. https://doi.org/10.3406/rea.1944.3298.

Wilkinson, L. P. Horace and His Lyric Poetry. CUP Archive, 1968.