Augustan Poetry · Classics
This class helped me further develop my understanding of Latin grammar and add to the list of vocabulary that I was familiar with.
analyzed Vergil's Aeneid 8; Horace's Odes; Ovid's Metamorphoses 13, Tristia, and Ibis
Learned about various Augustan poets, different types of Augustan poetry and their hallmark features, the context of this period within Roman history, poetic devices and their functions, translation techniques/practices
We looked at Virgil's Aeneid, Books 1, 7, 12. We did not have time to read Horace's Odes 300+ lines of translation per week. (150 lines per assignment) 1 midterm-- translation 20-ish lines, and a close reading of 20 ish lines 1 essay--a close analysis of a passage not done in class 1 final--translation of 20-ish lines, close reading 20 ish lines, and prepared essay that counts for 50% of the final NB: you do have a choice between passages for the close analysis and the translation.
50-60 lines per class; sometimes more, sometimes less, but we never got to it all; midterm and final of average difficulty; short memorization and recitation; and final paper 5-7 pages
Manageable midterm and final (though the final was surprisingly long), useless 5-6 page paper on Catullus or Horace's aesthetic criteria and our guess as to their opinion of THEIR OWN POEMS - a topic violating major rules of academic writing. Oh, and class participation, which is sometimes forced upon you because everyone is so bored and resentful that they don't want to volunteer.
Daily translation, weekly quizzes, easy midterm and final (just translate and asnwer a couple grammar questions)
Not bad at all. Felt like most of the work for this class involved getting up for its 9AM start time (participation was like 40%). We ended up doing about 60 lines a class, a little more was due on Tuesday and a little less on Thursday. I rarely had any trouble getting through it. Infrequent vocab/scansion quizzes which were pretty easy and graded fairly. Midterm was translation as well as identifying grammatical forms, pretty easy. Final ended up just being straight translation and was also pretty easy.
I learned a lot about different translation methods, new grammar concepts (as well as some much-needed refreshers on some old ones!), as well as the importance editors and their role in transmitting a text.
We covered the works of Horace, Virgil, Propertius, and Ovid. I learned about the Augustan age and the lives of the authors.