Lays Of Ancient Rome: And Other Poems - Softcover

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037187470X ISBN 13: 9780371874707

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

Lays Of Ancient Rome: And Other Poems by Thomas Babington Macaulay presents a curated suite of verse in which imagined Latin minstrels revive and reshape the legendary early history of Rome. The poems riff on well-known episodes such as Horatius Cocles, the Lake Regillus, Virginia, and the Prophecy of Capys, weaving Homeric epic textures with native Roman balladry. Through a mix of lyric, narrative, and dramatic scenes, Macaulay dramatizes the clash between patrician and plebeian orders, the pacts with gods, and the heroic saga of Rome’s rise. The collection is framed by a Preface that argues the early Roman ballads disappeared, were reworked into prose histories, and then resurrected as poetry by modern hands. The poems thus explore themes of patriotism, virtue, and the mythic foundations of Rome, while foregrounding the unstable boundary between history and myth in ancient literature. Readers encounter lavish, sometimes anachronistic imagery drawn from Greek myth and later Latin poetry, illustrating how the Romances of old became a national epic for English readers.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 037187470X
• ISBN 13: 9780371874707
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292