Department of Classical Studies

In 2022, L407 will read Horace’s Odes, a daring endeavor that sought to enshrine its author in a canon of lyric writers who had been dead for hundreds of years. We will explore the thematic diversity of this collection, which includes meditations on the brevity of life, the relationship of poetic and political power, and the trauma of the recent civil wars. But this is not all! Horace describes his transformation into a swan, addresses a wine jar, impersonates a drowned sailor, talks about being possessed by Bacchus, and curses a tree! There’s a little something for everyone in this fascinating collection of poetry.