The Heat of July in Venantius Fortunatus’ Poem (VII 8) Cover Image

Lipcowy upał w wierszu Venantiusa Fortunatusa (VII 8)
The Heat of July in Venantius Fortunatus’ Poem (VII 8)

Author(s): Zofia Głombiowska
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Venantius Fortunatus; list poetycki; opis lata; Catullus; Vergilius; Venantius Fortunatus; poetic letter; description of summer; Catullus; Virgil

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the first part (v. 1-32) of Venantius Fortunatus’s poetic letter addressed to Lupus, a dignitary in Merovingian Gaul (VII 8). The author analyses a lengthy description of summer, which appears in this text and ultimately emerges as a simile (devoid of introductory ut) or even a metaphor (i.e. a traveller tired of the heat is a poet anxious about the fate of Lupus, while a repose in a grove involves elation over good tidings of his friend; this elation inspires a song, which justifies the creation of the second, eulogic or panegyrical part of this piece). Thus, the epic narrator transforms into the speaker of the lyric utterance. In the present article the subject and the structure of the simile is confronted with fragments of ancient poetry, with special reference to the similes in Catullus’s elegy (c. 68, 55-66) as well as to those in Vergil’s 5th bucolic.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 3 (6)
  • Page Range: 265-274
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish