Week 12

Hymns  & Songs

Apr. 21

Primary Readings: Selections from Claudian and Ausonius

Apr. 23

Primary Readings: Ambrose Hymns III; Prudentius, Peristephanon II.1-24

Readings in Translation: Prudentius, Peristephanon II

Additional Resources: Listen to musical settings for this (and other) Ambrosian Hymns; Numerous translations are available; Saint Ambrose's Feast Day is on December 7^th; Summary of Ambrose's life and his role in Latin literature; Detailed biography; Details and Text of the Ambrosian Hymns; Ambrose was involved in two of the defining moments of Late Antiquity: the Altar of Victory Controversy and the Penitence of Theodosius; Ambrose's remains are housed in the St. Ambrose Church in Milan; Pictures of Ambrose; Paintings of "The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence" by Eustache Le Sueur, Valentin de Boulogne, and Titian; Saint Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks, his head is kept in the Vatican; More on Saint Lawrence; T. Head's introduction to the Cult of the Saints

 Questions: A) How does Ambrose's hymn differ from classical poetry? What poetic devices does Ambrose employ and to what effect? B) What is the distinction that Prudentius draws between ancient and contemporary Rome? Is Rome better or worse off because of the change? How has Saint Lawrence contributed to the transformation of Rome? Why was Lawrence martyred? Why does Lawrence believe that the Roman Empire was part of God's design? C) In lines 481f. Lawrence concludes his vision for a conservative, Christianized Rome. What is this vision? D) Why would Prudentius retell the martyrdom tales in the Peristephanon Liber in verse instead of in prose?

Apr. 25

Primary Readings: Carmina Burana 16 (CO2), 143 (CO5)

Readings in Translation: CB17, "O Fortuna"; CB196 "In Taberna"

Secondary Source Readings: J. Sebesta, "Medieval Latin Poetry", pp. 3-6, 139-140

Additional Resources: The lyrics (and translation) for the Carmina Burana poems set by Carl Orff; Summary of the collection, including material on the Goliardic poets that created the poems; Pictures of the manuscript 1 (frontpage) 2 (Fortuna & wheel) 3 (backgammon)

Questions: A) Note the presence of rhyme scheme the poems of the Carmina Burana. To what extent does rhyme and accented meter result in a different style of poetry than classical verse? B) How important is "Fortune" to the poet? C) CB143 touches on themes prominent in the Odes of Horace? What similarities and differences between the two can you identify? D) Although "Epicureanism" was moribund as an active philosophy in the Middle Ages, what evidence of a similar worldview do is promulgated in CB196? While it is doubtful that the composer of these verses would have known either Horace's Odes or Catullus's polymetric poems, what similarities in theme or composition can you identify in CB196? Would they have approved of these verses?