The Georgics appears as a simple didactic poem where readers go to find information and knowledge on agricultural manners. However, Virgil’s craftiness and use of language reveal a more insightful and polemic content. Thus, I will discuss Virgil’s use of anthropomorphism to portray a response to the Roman civil wars.
The way anthropomorphism appears to work in Georgics seems to consist on evoking pathos and in the reappearance of the similar anthropomorphized animals. Virgil appears to deliberately organize the structure in a way that strengthens the character’s personification. For example, Virgil highlights the similarities between man and beast, and reminds the audience that:
Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi
Prima fugit; subeunt …show more content…
Virgil begins to explain how to raise horses and while there is a sense of didactic mood; the poet’s primarily concern is to ensure the readers to select the best specimen among the stallions, a similar advice that will appear once more in Book 4. It is necessary to point out that the only objective for this outstanding horse is to wage war and it is the moment when the emphasis shifts to a single individual. In lines 83-88, the poet shifts his didactic mood to a more poetic tone. He describes the frenzy that takes hold of the horse when he hears the sonum…arma and Virgil immerses the readers with his changes of perspective. First, we see from a far this restless horse unable to stay put (stare loco nescit, 3.84). Then Virgil describes the frenzy’s progress, which allows us to look at the horse in close inspection. The progression begins with the ears and ends at the horse’s feet. Such vocabulary is able to recreate a very vivid image and let us experience the horse’s sensations too. Not only is this horse in its best physique but it also portrays the ideal soldier: it possesses an innate desire for fighting, presumably for his country or his gens. The horse’s grandeur horse only intensifies in the lines that follow since it is compared to companions of epic gods and demigods. The goal of this description is to amplify the anthropomorphic process of this horse, since it is very …show more content…
(3. 498-502)
The victorious horse falls, wretched from his pursuits, and forgetful of the grass; he rejects the spring and beats the ground repeatedly with his foot. His ears lowered, uncertain sweat appears in the same place and cold sweat is for those who are about to die. The skin dries, it is rough, and resists feeling of the touching hand.
First, the passage’s tone hangs heavily with vocabulary that evokes empathy towards the horse and this compassion increases since it seems to allude to the horse back in lines 83-88. For example, both passages share similar descriptions: micat auribus (3.84) versus demissae aures (3.500), and cavatque tellurem…ungula (3.87-88) versus et pede terram crebra ferit (3.499-500). The once restless horse filled with war’s furor, is now an infelix studiorum. Although there are few words that point out the use personification (studiorum and pedes), there is no doubt that this passage displays anthropomorphism since Virgil has already structured this finale with the aid of the previous passages and with the passage’s tune and mood. But how do these anthropomorphized passages tie together with the aftermath of Rome’s civil
The way anthropomorphism appears to work in Georgics seems to consist on evoking pathos and in the reappearance of the similar anthropomorphized animals. Virgil appears to deliberately organize the structure in a way that strengthens the character’s personification. For example, Virgil highlights the similarities between man and beast, and reminds the audience that:
Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi
Prima fugit; subeunt …show more content…
Virgil begins to explain how to raise horses and while there is a sense of didactic mood; the poet’s primarily concern is to ensure the readers to select the best specimen among the stallions, a similar advice that will appear once more in Book 4. It is necessary to point out that the only objective for this outstanding horse is to wage war and it is the moment when the emphasis shifts to a single individual. In lines 83-88, the poet shifts his didactic mood to a more poetic tone. He describes the frenzy that takes hold of the horse when he hears the sonum…arma and Virgil immerses the readers with his changes of perspective. First, we see from a far this restless horse unable to stay put (stare loco nescit, 3.84). Then Virgil describes the frenzy’s progress, which allows us to look at the horse in close inspection. The progression begins with the ears and ends at the horse’s feet. Such vocabulary is able to recreate a very vivid image and let us experience the horse’s sensations too. Not only is this horse in its best physique but it also portrays the ideal soldier: it possesses an innate desire for fighting, presumably for his country or his gens. The horse’s grandeur horse only intensifies in the lines that follow since it is compared to companions of epic gods and demigods. The goal of this description is to amplify the anthropomorphic process of this horse, since it is very …show more content…
(3. 498-502)
The victorious horse falls, wretched from his pursuits, and forgetful of the grass; he rejects the spring and beats the ground repeatedly with his foot. His ears lowered, uncertain sweat appears in the same place and cold sweat is for those who are about to die. The skin dries, it is rough, and resists feeling of the touching hand.
First, the passage’s tone hangs heavily with vocabulary that evokes empathy towards the horse and this compassion increases since it seems to allude to the horse back in lines 83-88. For example, both passages share similar descriptions: micat auribus (3.84) versus demissae aures (3.500), and cavatque tellurem…ungula (3.87-88) versus et pede terram crebra ferit (3.499-500). The once restless horse filled with war’s furor, is now an infelix studiorum. Although there are few words that point out the use personification (studiorum and pedes), there is no doubt that this passage displays anthropomorphism since Virgil has already structured this finale with the aid of the previous passages and with the passage’s tune and mood. But how do these anthropomorphized passages tie together with the aftermath of Rome’s civil