Ovid

After spending some years in the critics' bad books, Ovid is now a poet firmly back in fashion. His wit and humour are well-known and appealing aspects of his poetry, but there is plenty there too for a reader who likes to dig beneath the surface, whether in search of complex literary references, or political allusions or even reflections on the human condition. The syllabus offers a selection of works from the whole range of Ovid's poetic output: from the Amores and Ars Amatoria, products of his younger years when love and love elegy were foremost in his thoughts, to the grander undertakings of the Fasti (a poetic version of the Roman calendar which takes its cue from the great Callimachus) and the Metamorphoses (a challenging mythological epic fascinated by change, time and genre), on to the doleful coda of the Tristia, elegiac letters from exile in which the poet reflects on his life, work and banishment by Augustus.

A recent overview can be found in N. Holzberg, Ovid: The Poet and his Work (2002).

Teaching: lectures, and tutorials and classes.