580 California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA, 94104
Key research themes
1. How do classical Latin didactic poets construct pedagogical authority and didactic voice through poetic narrative and intertextual engagement?
This theme investigates the narrative and poetic strategies Latin didactic poets use to assert their pedagogical authority and to teach through poetry. It explores how didactic poems position teachers and students, embody the didactic relationship in poetic form, and engage with earlier literary models. This focus is important for understanding the didactic poem as a performative interaction that simultaneously instructs and reflects on the nature and efficacy of teaching, as well as the ethical and artistic implications of the poetic voice.
Key finding: This paper reveals that Virgil's Georgics 4 uses the narrative of Aristaeus, Cyrene, and Proteus as an aetiology for didactic poetry itself. Cyrene and Proteus function as poetic teachers employing didactic songs, with... Read more
Key finding: This study analyzes Persius' allusion to Vergil's Georgics 1 to elaborate how didactic poetic technique embodies competing concepts of moral education. Persius's use of 'divided allusion' mirrors Vergil on both thematic and... Read more
Key finding: The analysis uncovers the complex dual didactic relationship in Ovid's Ars amatoria between the poet/magister, divine addressee (Cupid), and human reader. The poem features a pedagogical paradox: a master teaching a... Read more
2. In what ways does Latin didactic poetry engage with scientific, astronomical, and natural philosophical knowledge, and how is this reflected poetically?
This theme explores the intersection of Latin didactic poetry with scientific discourse, focusing on astronomy, natural phenomena, and philosophical inquiry. It highlights how poets integrate contemporary or classical scientific knowledge into hexameter verse, producing didactic works that mediate and disseminate scientific ideas within poetical frameworks. This reflects wider intellectual traditions and cultural attitudes towards science as poetic truth and instruction.
Key finding: The paper demonstrates that Basinio da Parma's mid-fifteenth-century Latin Astronomicon libri represents an innovative attempt to blend humanist literary artistry with the Stoic astronomical treatise of Cleomedes. Using Greek... Read more
Key finding: This study clarifies Lucan's invocation to Nero by unpacking his engagement with Manilius' Astronomica. It reveals two Manilian models framing Nero's cosmic position, linking his apotheosis to zodiacal symbolism and the... Read more
Key finding: By comparing Aratus and Manilius's depictions of the Milky Way, the paper illustrates how Latin didactic poetry portrays celestial phenomena as sublime experiences that challenge human comprehension. The Milky Way serves both... Read more
3. How can the interrelation of pedagogy, poetic creativity, and reading practices be conceptualized within Latin didactic poetry?
This theme probes the synergy between teaching, poetic composition, and reading strategies, focusing on the notion of 'pedagogical poetics.' It considers how didactic poetry negotiates teaching as a creative act, advocating innovative reading and writing paradigms such as 'writreading'—a hybrid of writing and reading—and how pedagogical lineages inform poetic practice. This insight affords a deeper appreciation of poetry as an embodied form of knowledge transmission and pedagogical engagement.
Key finding: The text theorizes a 'pedagogical poetics' approach wherein teaching is enacted through poetic language as a creative, performative act. Drawing on Roland Barthes and Sandra Corazza's concept of 'writreading,' it advocates... Read more
Key finding: This article situates Latin didactic poetry within contemporary Digital Humanities methodologies, highlighting remixing, augmented translations, and computational techniques as performative acts that renew poetic meaning. By... Read more
Key finding: Although focused on Brazilian philosophy, this work uncovers parallels by emphasizing the dramatization of language in pedagogy and poetry. Nunes’s analysis supports viewing Latin didactic poetry not merely as didactic... Read more