Tibullus Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Arthur Leslie Wheeler

Critical Essay by Arthur Leslie Wheeler

SOURCE: "Erotic Teaching in Roman Elegy and the Greek Sources. Part I," Classical Philology, Vol. V, No. 4, October, 1910, pp. 440-50.

In the following excerpt, Wheeler outlines the Greek influence on the Roman elegists in their erotic poetry.

The erotic teaching which pervades much of the work of Tibullus and Propertius and culminates in the Ars amatoria of Ovid is one of the most striking and characteristic features of Roman elegy. All three elegists assume the rôle of erotic expert and all three give utterance to numerous erotic precepts. Erotic teaching is, therefore, of importance to all who would understand the nature of Roman elegy. But it possesses another interest. It is part of that subjective-erotic note which is recognized as the great and distinguishing characteristic of the genre, and the study of its sources should throw light upon the origin of the subjective-erotic type of elegy.

Was subjective-erotic...
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