Virgil
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Virgil is best known for his epic poem, “The Aeneid”. His work reflects how he feels and felt when the civil war ended and the rule of Augustus began.
- Born a peasant and raised on a farm. and is rural upbringing influenced his poetry. As he grew up, Rome was in crisis, there were power-hungry nobles fighting each other. When he was 20, Julius Caesar began a series of bloody civil wars. The wars affected everyone, even simple farmers, as they were forced to fight, their farms went into neglect and ruin. His poems capture the timeless peacefulness of country life that he desperately wanted to see again. His poetry won him fame and the friendship of important political people although he never played a part in public life and has lived his whole life solitary. At that point, Augustus had just become the ruler of Rome and Virgil hoped that Augustus would save Rome from chaos and ruin. Virgil then started an epic poem that was his greatest poetic achievement of his time which would summarize his ideal Rome called “The Aeneid”. Virgil worked on “The Aeneid” for the rest of his life until he unexpectedly died, without finishing the final edits on the poem
Ovid
Ovid’s poetry made him a favorite among Rome’s elites, but angered Emperor Augustus. Just as he was producing his finest work, Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD) was exiled to the darkest corner of the empire, never to return.
Ovid was born outside of Rome, to a wealthy family and he often skipped school to work on poetry. After he completed his education, he traveled for a bit. His father wanted to him to take junior official positions, but it was not appealing to him, he did not desire this life. Ovid left his job to become a full time poet and created many works after that. Ovid’s work focused on love and sex, it was playful. Although his writing was amazing, his timing was awful, the popularity of his carefree attitude towards a touchy subject challenged the moral conservatism of Emperor Augustus. Conservatism is any political philosophy that favors tradition (in the sense of various religious, cultural, or nationally-defined beliefs and customs) in the face of external forces for change, and is critical of proposals for radical social change. Augustus was under pressure and becoming paranoid and he began to see anarchy in every act of disobedience to him. Ovid was banished from Rome, into one of the darkest corners of the Empire because he angered Augustus by his poems. Despite Ovid’s banishment, he completed his most finest work in exile, an epic poem called “Metamorphoses”. Over time Ovid grew old and sick, His earlier carefree attitude gave way to sorrow and he wrote endless letters, begging Augustus and, later, Tiberius, to be allowed home. But this would never happen and as he neared the end of his life, he became resigned to his fate. As he expected, he died in exile.
Although the man was dead, however, the poet lived on. His work continued to be read and admired. “Metamorphoses,” is today seen as one of the most influential poems in European literary history.
Ovid was born outside of Rome, to a wealthy family and he often skipped school to work on poetry. After he completed his education, he traveled for a bit. His father wanted to him to take junior official positions, but it was not appealing to him, he did not desire this life. Ovid left his job to become a full time poet and created many works after that. Ovid’s work focused on love and sex, it was playful. Although his writing was amazing, his timing was awful, the popularity of his carefree attitude towards a touchy subject challenged the moral conservatism of Emperor Augustus. Conservatism is any political philosophy that favors tradition (in the sense of various religious, cultural, or nationally-defined beliefs and customs) in the face of external forces for change, and is critical of proposals for radical social change. Augustus was under pressure and becoming paranoid and he began to see anarchy in every act of disobedience to him. Ovid was banished from Rome, into one of the darkest corners of the Empire because he angered Augustus by his poems. Despite Ovid’s banishment, he completed his most finest work in exile, an epic poem called “Metamorphoses”. Over time Ovid grew old and sick, His earlier carefree attitude gave way to sorrow and he wrote endless letters, begging Augustus and, later, Tiberius, to be allowed home. But this would never happen and as he neared the end of his life, he became resigned to his fate. As he expected, he died in exile.
Although the man was dead, however, the poet lived on. His work continued to be read and admired. “Metamorphoses,” is today seen as one of the most influential poems in European literary history.