When this book was first published in 1976, the works of Propertius were becoming increasingly fashionable. Professor Sullivan proposes what was, at the time of publication, a new view on Propertius' poetic development and his place in the social political and literary circles of the day. His was an important re-evaluation. It finally banished the picture of Propertius, put forward before his celebration in the work of Ezra Pound and Robert Lowell, as a simple romantic, apprehended dimly through poor texts and an obscure vocabulary. We are shown instead a more complex, but a more credible and interesting poet. All quotations are in both Latin and English, and the book is intended for the general literary reader as much as for the classical student.
Professor Sullivan proposes what was, at the time of publication, a new view on Propertius' poetic development and his place in the social political and literary circles of the day. His was an important re-evaluation. It finally banished the picture of Propertius as a simple romantic, apprehended dimly through poor texts and an obscure vocabulary.
