The opening lines of the Aeneid (shown below), Virgil enters the epic showing Homer, author of the Iliad (a Trojan war epic), and the Odyssey, (an epic of the Greek hero Ulysses), by naming his subjects as “warfare and a man,” Virgil says that he is the author to both of the Homeric epics. The main charactor, Aeneas, spends the first half of the book wandering in search of a new home and the second half at war fighting to set up this homeland. Aeneas's first mission is summarized in lines 2-4 (to move from Troy to Italy). Virgil uses the past tense when he presents his side of the book, showing to us that that there for certain is an end to the book.
Wars and man I sing - an exile driven on by Fate,This book seems to have many allusions to other references in literature from that time period (the Iliad and the Odyssey). Virgil also seems to love to connect to his audience of readers. One such example is in the phrase “our Lavinian . . . shore,” Virgil connects right to his audience, the Roman contemporaries, to Aeneas, the hero of “early days.”
he was the first to flee the coast of Troy,
destined to reach Lavinian shores and Italian soil,
yet many blows he took on land and the sea from the gods above-
thanks to cruel Juno's relentless rage - and many losses
he bore in battle too, before he could found a city,
bring his gods to Latium, source of the Latin race,
the Alban lords and the high walls of Rome.
Tell me,
Muse, how it all began. Why was Juno outraged?
What could wound the Queen of the Gods with all her power?
Why did she force a man, so famous for his devotion,
to brave such rounds of hardship, bear such trials?
Can such rage inflame the immortals' hearts?
Virgil, Robert Fagles, and Bernard MacGregor Walker. Knox. The Aeneid. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.
First of all, I must commend you for your most acute observation, regarding the connection between Vergil and his readers. It attests to your awareness that the poet's target audience was, in fact, the Roman people. Indeed, through the reader-response lens, it is very clear that the author is trying to engage the reader through the use of rhetorical questions, etc. I do, however have a question about a claim of yours, wherein you stated, "Virgil says that he is the author to both of the Homeric epics." What exactly did you mean by that?
ReplyDeleteThank you Lucas. I really do like how you bring up the topic of how through the reader response lens that the author asks many questions to engage the reader.But when I had said that (sorry it was a long time ago) I think I was meaning to say that he was greatly influenced by the epics of homer, though I am unsure of when each of those authors lived.
ReplyDeleteI like your use of the formalism lens, when you commented on Virgil's use of past tense. I think that your conclusion that his use of past tense means that there is a definite end of the story is crucial.It tells us that Aeneas is working to a reachable goal, and not a mythological fantasy. Overall, I think that connection was quite brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAvi wrote, "One interesting thing about the physical appearance of the book is the 'ruffled' edges, giving the book a sort of olden look." There's a specific term for that kind of paper edge--What's it called? I considered this as one of my Google challenges when we were talking about how to search. Very nice comments thread on this post.
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