Roman Elegy: Love, Lament, and Major Poets

Roman Elegy: Features and Key Poets

Originally, the elegy was a funeral lament sung to the accompaniment of a flute. It also possesses a melancholic character, often found in elegies of amorous lament. Latin elegy adopted its sorrowful and lamenting character from Greek elegy. Formally, the typical meter of this genre is the elegiac couplet, composed of a hexameter and a pentameter. Unlike Greek elegy, Roman elegy has a predominantly subjective, erotic character, emphasizing the personal element and amorous passion.

Development, Authors, and Works: The precursors of elegiac poetry in Rome were the Neoterics. Subsequently, three great poets cultivated this genre: Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid. All these poets developed their work in the second half of the 1st century BC. Notably, their work refers almost exclusively to private issues, without the reference to public life found in other contemporary poets.

Tibullus (c. 54–19 BC): Love and Country Life

His poetry is composed of elegies whose main theme is romantic love towards Delia and Nemesis, two women with fictitious names taken from mythology. His poems also emphasize those devoted to extolling the pleasures of life in the countryside. He was a refined and exquisite poet.

Propertius (c. 50–16 BC): Cynthia and Roman Patriotism

His work consists of four books. The first three are elegies inspired by his love affair with Cynthia. The fourth book, written after Cynthia's death, contains compositions evoking patriotism related to Rome's past. With these, they contribute to the national reconstruction policy of Augustus, as did all the writers of the time.

Ovid (43 BC – AD 17/18): Prolific Master of Elegy

Born in Sulmona, Ovid held some civil and forensic positions in Rome before abandoning his legal career to devote himself fully to poetry. In 8 BC, he was banished by Augustus and died in exile. From Ovid's abundant poetic output, which includes didactic, mythological, or epistolary compositions, we focus on those with amatory content:

• Amores: Formed by three books dedicated to his mistress Corinna (a fictitious name for his beloved). These are subjective erotic elegies.
• Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love): Ovid presents himself as an expert in amatory technique. Although this work might fit into didactic poetry, its content and form correspond to the field of love elegy.
• Fasti: A poetic Roman calendar composed by Ovid, detailing its many festivals and traditions, written in elegiac couplets. This work remained unfinished, matching the date of his exile; only the first six books are preserved.

Two works from exile have a markedly different character:

• Tristia (Sorrows): Five books in which he recounts his misfortunes. They are memories in which Ovid explains his past and bitterly recalls the envied happiness and position of another time. One poem refers to the last night he spent in Rome before leaving for exile.
• Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea): These are poems of lament about his present condition, full of melancholy for his happy past. They are addressed to his wife Fabia and her friends, asking for their intercession before Augustus, whom he praised in the hope of forgiveness.