Lucretius Syllabus

August 27

Lucretius I.1-399

Readings:

Gale, Monica. 2001. “Wordplay and Poetic Succession in Lucretius,” in Classical Philology 96:2: 168-72. (online)

Elder, J.P., "Lucretius 1.1-49," TAPA 85 (1954) 88-120. (online)

Segal, C. “Dreams and Poets in Lucretius,” ICS 15 (1990): 251-62.

September 3

Lucretius I.400-802

Readings:

Warren, James. 2007. “Lucretius and Greek Philosophy,” in The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius (eds. Gillespie and Hardie): 19-32.

Schiesaro, Alessandro. “Lucretius and Roman Politics and History,” in The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius (eds. Gillespie and Hardie): 41-58.

September 10

Lucretius I.803-end

Readings:

Sedley, D. “The Proems of Empedocles and Lucretius,” in GRBS 30 (1989): 269-96.

Tatum, W.J. "The Presocratics in Book One of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura." TAPA 114 (1984): 177-189.

September 17

Lucretius II.1-397

Readings:

DeLacy, Philip. Distant Views: The Imagery of Lucretius 2." CJ: 60.2 (1964): 49-55.

Farrell, Joseph. “Lucretian Architecture: the structure and argument of the De rerum natura.” in The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius (eds. Gillespie and Hardie): 76-91.

September 24 Exam I

Essay Question

Lucretius II.398-798

October 1

Lucretius II.799-end

Kenney, E.J. “Lucretian Texture: style, metre and rhetoric in the De rerum natura.” in The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius (eds. Gillespie and Hardie): 92-110.

Porter, James. “Lucretius and the sublime.” in The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius (eds. Gillespie and Hardie): 167-184.

October 8

Lucretius III.1-401

Readings:

Stokes, MC. 1975. “A Lucretian Paragraph: III.1-30.” In G.M. Kirkwood (ed.), Poetry and Poetics from Ancient Greece to the Renaissance.

October 15

Lucretius III.402-799

West, D. 1975. Lucretius’s methods of argument (3.417-614) CQ 25: 94-116.

October 22

Lucretius III.800-end

October 29 Exam II

November 5

Rough Draft of Papers Due

Peer Editing Workshop

November 12

Lucretius VI.1002-end

Fowler, D. 1989. “Lucretius and Politics,” in Philosophia togata : essays on philosophy and Roman society. Oxford.

Fowler, P. 1997. “Lucretian Conclusions,” in Classical Closure (eds. Roberts, Dunn and Fowler) Princeton.

November 19 Exam III

November 26 – No class (Thanksgiving Break)

December 3 Course evaluations; Final Papers Due