Precis for "Virgilian Narrative: Ecphrasis"

          Alessandro Barchiesi in his essay, "Virgilian Narrative: Ecphrasis" (9/29/12) asserts that ecphrasis is used in the Aeneid to enhance the story, and also examines the ways that it is used and interpreted. The author uses specific examples from the story, especially Aeneas's shield to portray how ecphrasis is used within the epic, and also to compare it to the works of other poets. He also gives the reader information about how ecphrasis is interpreted differently today than it was in ancient Rome, which helps explain how the viewer might interpret it, but also how and why Virgil put it in the Aeneid. The author tries to explain to the reader the importance of ecphrasis in the epic, and also the pros and cons of including it, in order to allow the reader to be aware of it and understand its relevance. The author intends to present this information to all readers of ancient Roman and Greek text, but for us, it is relevant to our project on the Aeneid.
          I think that this essay was really convincing. The author presented a good argument that captured my attention, and explained something that I didn't know much about. Now, I have a reason to pay attention to the description of artistic details within the epic, and I understand more about why Virgil has included them. I thought that the concept of ecphrasis was interesting, especially because it is something that I see in a lot of books that I read still today, but never knew had an actual name.

Precis for "Virgilian Narrative - Story-Telling"

          Don Fowler in his essay, "Virgilian Narrative - Story-Telling", (9/22/12) argues that The Aeneid "has much to say about story-telling itself" (259). The author does this by breaking down parts of a story into different sections: narrators, oppositions, plot, story, book, point of view, and singing and writing, and explaining the different parts and their relevance to The Aeneid. The author does this in order to break down the epic and give a deeper insight and more information to the reader so that they can examine these individual aspects better as they read. The author intends to give this information to people reading Virgil's works, especially the Aeneid, to help them get more out of their reading.
          This essay was the most boring of all those that I've read so far. I did not think that it was overly persuasive at all, and really didn't gain, what I would consider, a ton of useful information. I wish the author would have had a little bit better of an introduction and conclusion to bring the whole paper together and really explain his purpose; however, I did like that he was concise and to the point. Overall, not the greatest source of information on how to examine the Aeneid, but still somewhat helpful.

Reflection on lines 65-91

This section was Juno pleading for help from Aeolus and his response to her. She tells him about how she despises Aeneas and needs his help to wreak havoc on him while in return promising him beautiful nymphs (especially Deiopea) as a reward. Aeolus agrees to help her (although he really shouldn't because it's against the rules of his job) and what he does is also described within this passage.
Some vocabulary I had trouble with:
- agmine
- litora
- gens
- puppes
- victosque
Grammar:
- There are imperatives in line 69!
- I was confused as to what 'bis' agrees with in line 90
- I couldn't find the direct object in line 79
- I wasn't sure about the ablative absolute in line 81
- or the case of 'nubes' in line 88

Lines 34-64 Reflection

The section that I've just translated continues the introduction the the epic and explains more about Juno's savage anger. She targets Aeneas and his crew with fire, and even kills a man by impaling him on a rock. Finally she seeks out Aeolus and the readers discover what his powers are and what he does (as designated by Jupiter).
The vocabulary I found difficult in this chapter was:
- ignem
- aequora
- aris
- talia
- auras
and
- atris

The grammar I found difficult in this chapter was:
- The agreement of 'una' in line 47 to a noun
and
- The sentence structure of line 50 (I had trouble with that line in general)

Precis for "Virgil's Style"

          James J. O'Hara, in his essay, Virgil's Style, (9/16/12)  suggests that the awareness of stylistic poetic devices in Virgil's writing gives his poems a deeper meaning, and can lead researchers to a whole new understanding of his intentions while writing. He uses examples from Virgil’s Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid, and also the work of other researchers to convey this idea. O'Hara aims "to 'prove', as many have before, that much is lost when Virgil is read only in translation or with insufficient attention to style" in order to allow readers of Virgil to better interpret Virgil (242). Furthermore, O'Hara provides "a thorough introduction to Virgil's style" by showing the reader some of the mechanisms he uses (242). The author intends to give this knowledge to people reading anything by Virgil, to express.

          This essay was convincing because there was a lot of evidence to support O'Hara's points. By introducing readers to the style of Virgil, it gives them a good knowledge to start looking out for the devices he uses on their own. Everything O'Hara writes about could really help the reader look deeper into Virgil's writing, and understand that reading just the translation only gives you a one-dimensional view of what the Aeneid actually is. Also, the study of Virgil's poetic language can go on and on and continue to always be interpreted and analyzed, leading the way for future research and development. I liked this essay because style is something that I can really examine in my studies of the Aeneid, and I will pay attention to during my translation.

Lines 1-33 Reflection

The section we read was an introduction to the epic. It gave a history of the founding of Rome and predicted some the struggles Aeneas and his men would go through. Furthermore, it questions the wrath of the gods, especially Juno's, which could be argued as the main question throughout the epic. The passage also shows why Juno will feel such a strong hatred towards Rome, seeing as they will destroy her dearest city. Some vocabulary I found difficult in this section was:
- numine
- vi
- fertur
- arces
- alta
and
- acti
I didn't have much trouble with grammar in this section.
Overall, the passage was not too bad to read, and I think it's really cool to read the English and now have the Latin to compare to it.

Precis for "The Virgilian Intertext"

            Joseph Farrell in his essay, “The Virgilian Intertext”, (9/9/12) argues that intertextuality is a tool that Virgil uses to enhance the interpretation of his works. He uses examples from Virgil’s Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid with references to other authors’, and Homer’s works such as the Iliad and Odyssey to convey this. “Intertextuality is one of Virgil’s most powerfully evocative tools for communicating ideas,” and by bringing this information to the reader, it gives them an opportunity to look deeper into Virgil’s work and interpret it in new ways (Farrell 222). Furthermore, this intertextuality “greatly enriches (and often complicates)” the reader’s understanding of Virgil’s works, giving them a whole new dimension of analysis while reading (228). The author intends to present this knowledge to those reading anything of Virgil’s, to express its importance and relevance.

            The essay was convincing, as it gave me a new understanding of the Aeneid and how much intertextuality plays a role in it. It also gives reasons for why Virgil might have done this, and how it enhances the text. It shows how widely read Virgil was when writing his works, and how creatively he thought to include all of these allusions in his work. However, this information is pretty useless to a reader, such as myself, who has not read many of the works, which Virgil refers to in his intertextuality. Without prior knowledge of those works, this information tells me that these references exist, but I have no tools to find them and analyze them unless I read the texts that Virgil acquired them from.