ElegiacThe adjective elegiac has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in the form of elegiac couplets. An elegiac couplet consists of one line of poetry in dactylic hexameter followed by a line in dactylic pentameter.
Elegiac coupletThe elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years later. As with the English heroic couplet, each pair of lines usually makes sense on its own, while forming part of a larger work. Each couplet consists of a dactylic hexameter verse followed by a dactylic pentameter verse.
VirgilPublius Vergilius Maro (ˈpuːbliʊs wɛrˈɡɪliʊs ˈmaroː; traditional dates 15 October 70 - 21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil (ˈvɜːrdʒɪl ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars consider his authorship of these poems to be dubious.
CallimachusCallimachus (Καλλίμαχος; 310 240 BC) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide variety of genres, most of which did not survive. He espoused an aesthetic philosophy, known as Callimacheanism, which exerted a strong influence on the poets of the Roman Empire and, through them, on all subsequent Western literature.
OvidPublius Ovidius Naso (ˈpuːbliʊs ɔˈwɪdiʊs ˈnaːso; 21 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid (ˈɒvɪd ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life.
HoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus (ˈkɥiːn̪t̪ʊs̠ (h)ɔˈraːt̪iʊs̠ ˈfɫ̪akːʊs̠; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (ˈhɒrɪs), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words.
CleopatraCleopatra VII Thea Philopator (, lit. Cleopatra "father-loving goddess"; 70/69 BC - 10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic period state in the Mediterranean and of the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander (336–323 BC).
Latin literatureLatin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature would flourish for the next six centuries. The classical era of Latin literature can be roughly divided into the following periods: Early Latin literature, The Golden Age, The Imperial Period and Late Antiquity.
