Tag Archives: Latin poetry

Loneliness in Old Age

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

Poetry and song do wonderful and – in the truest meaning of the word: awesome – things. They allow us to create entire worlds using nothing but words. Alternative worlds in which we may explore and experience what we are … Continue reading →

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Hard shell, soft core

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

The late antique poet Claudian wrote a series of seven short epigrams on a fluid inclusion (or ‘enhydro’); these poems form part of a collection of Carmina minora (‘Shorter poems’), where they feature under the title De crystallo cui aqua … Continue reading →

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Principiis obsta: resist beginnings!

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

Ovid, in his elegiac poem Remedia Amoris (‘Remedies for Love’), writes (Ov. rem. 89–94, transl. J. H. Mozley): Quale sit id, quod amas, celeri circumspice mente, et tua laesuro subtrahe colla iugo. Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur, cum mala per … Continue reading →

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Creative Processes

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

In 2015, my colleague Dr Rachel Mairs and I organised an international workshop that we called ‘Materialising Poetry‘. I have very fond memories of the day, and the theme that we got to discuss with our colleagues and students has … Continue reading →

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Roman poetry is when…

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

My favourite definition of poetry goes like this: Poetry is when every line begins with a capital letter and does not reach the right margin of the page. I like this definition so much, because, in its focus on two … Continue reading →

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New Year’s Death

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

For at least thirty-nine people their desire to celebrate the new year ended fatally last night in Istanbul when a hitherto unidentified perpetrator marched into a nightclub and gunned down his victims. Another 69 or so have been injured. In … Continue reading →

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Hope, Freedom, and Being Human: A Poetic Approach

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

The 2016 Being Human Festival – a festival of the Humanities, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy – commences today. This year’s theme is ‘Hope and Fear’, and my university, the University of Reading, … Continue reading →

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Hello Stranger, or: Pompeian Greetings from Beyond the Grave!

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

The Roman town of Pompeii has provided us with many a remarkable piece of evidence for virtually all aspects of Roman life and civilisation. Yet there are a number of things which are conspicuously lacking (and not for all of … Continue reading →

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Sex, Gender Roles, and Hatred

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

In 1908, Edith Morley was appointed Professor of English Language at University College Reading – the institution that eventually became the University of Reading. Professor Morley’s autobiographical sketch, ‘Looking Before and After’ was recently published as ‘Before and After: Reminiscences … Continue reading →

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Late Homework: Seamus Heaney’s Aeneid, Book VI

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

The younger Seneca, in his Consolatio ad Polybium, praises Polybius for his translations of the classics: a Latin translation of Homer and a Greek translation of Vergil. Seneca writes (11.5-6): Agedum illa, quae multo ingenii tui labore celebrata sunt, in … Continue reading →

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