Love and War: poetry at the end of the Roman Republic CLASSIC4094
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Humanities
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
- Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
The course examines a period of enormous influence in the history of poetry: the final years of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Empire. It centres on Propertius and Tibullus, and will also include Catullus, Virgil, and Horace. It focusses on the relationship between love poetry and war, and on the strong sense of poetic identity that was the enduring legacy of the poetry of this period.
Timetable
5x1hr lectures; 15x1hr seminars over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus. This is one of the Honours courses in Classics and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.
Requirements of Entry
Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry in Classics, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.
Excluded Courses
LATIN4033
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
The standard assessments for this course are:
■ Exam (90 minutes) - 50%
■ Essay (1500 words) - 30%
■ Oral Presentation (10 minutes) - 20%
If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:
■ There are no alternatives to the Exam, but extra time can be offered as reasonable adjustment.
■ There are no alternatives to the Essay, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions).
■ A recorded Presentation or Written script of equivalent length. or Power point with substantial notes as alternative to the presentation.
Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.
Main Assessment In: April/May
Course Aims
This course aims to:
■ Provide students with the opportunity to focus on a crucial period in Rome's cultural development and explore its literature
■ Foster students' awareness of the importance of gender and sexuality as expressions of political and social environments
■ Develop skills in close reading and analysis of poetry, studied in translation
■ Develop students' exploring an important body of literature from a variety of different perspectives, reflecting the key themes of the course
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ Produce detailed readings of poetry in both oral and written form
■ Show evidence of understanding of the social, historical, and literary contexts of the poetry studied
■ Present their own research relating to the themes of the course in a coherent and scholarly form
■ Show awareness of the interrelated nature of literature with political and social forces