When Dante sat down to think of the best possible spiritual guide for his narrator in the Commedia, Vergil was the obvious choice. For Dryden, the Georgics was 'the best poem by the best poet.' For T. S. Eliot, Vergil is THE classic author. One could go on and on amassing the accolades that subsequent literary history has heaped upon Publius Vergilius Maro (and then one still has to ponder his gigantic influence on the other arts, on politics, and on world culture in general). The purpose of this course is to get the thoughtful graduate student started on this fascinating task.

The course will entail: [a] lectures by the principal instructor and various members of the Purdue faculty; [b] a special guest appearance by Allen Mandelbaum; [c] student participation, including both informal discussion and more formal oral reports on the semester project chosen; [d] composition of a seminar paper presenting the semester project.

January
11 Introduction to the course. The classical epic. Introduction to Vergil.
18 Homer, Iliad and Odyssey: The Greek background. The oral tradition.
25 Vergil, Aeneid

February
1 Vergil, Eclogues; Georgics
8 Ovid, Metamorphoses: The 'Anxiety of Influence'
15 Beowulf: The 'Vergilian Question'
22 Dante, The Divine Comedy

March
1 Mediaeval France
8 [SPRING BREAK]
15 Boiardo and Ariosto
22 The Spanish Romances of Chivalry: prose epic?
29 Spenser, The Faerie Queene

April
5 Milton, Paradise Lost
12 The 'Modern Epic'
19 student reports
26 student reports

May
3 student reports