Victorian Horace: Classics and Class

Description

The poetry of Horace was central to Victorian male elite education and the ancient poet himself, suitably refashioned, became a model for the English gentleman. Horace and the Victorians examines the English reception of Horace in Victorian culture, a period which saw the foundations of the discipline of modern classical scholarship in England and of many associated and lasting social values. It shows that the scholarly study, translation and literary imitation of Horace in this period were crucial elements in reinforcing the social prestige of Classics as a discipline and its function as an indicator of 'gentlemanly' status through its domination of the elite educational system and its prominence in literary production. The book ends with an epilogue suggesting that the framework of study and reception of a classical author such as Horace, so firmly established in the Victorian era, has been modernised and 'democratised' in recent years, matching the movement of Classics from a discipline which reinforces traditional and conservative social values to one which can be seen as both marginal and liberal.

Stephen Harrison is Professor of Latin Literature, University of Oxford, UK. He has written extensively on Latin literature and its reception, and is the editor of Living Classics: Greece and Rome in Contemporary Poetry in English (2009) and co-editor of Classics in the Modern World: A Democratic Turn? (2013).

Harrison is perfectly placed to excavate the Horatian artifacts buried in Victorian literature. ... [T]he author demonstrates an impressive command of Victorian poetry and fiction, as well as the scholarship on Victorian classical reception. Without doubt, Victorian Horace is a valuable addition to this literature: consistently illuminating on the intricacies of period translations, on the relationship between an original poem and a modem imitation, and on decoding subtle allusions in poetry and prose. * Victorian Studies * [Harrison] is an erudite and agreeable cicerone who presents the reader with a wide range of responses to Horace over a significant period in the history of classical education. * Classics for All * A thorough and thought-provoking study, concise, well-argued, and full of avenues for further inquiry. Harrison has made another valuable contribution to the field of Horatian studies. * New England Classical Journal * Quoting passages in the original Latin and in translation, this thorough book examines the role of Horace before and after the Victorian period, setting the 19th-century appeal of the ancient poet in a wider cultural context as part of a dialogue down the centuries from 1st-century Rome till now. * Minerva * The greatest strength of Harrison's book ... [is] the carefully collated and sensibly arranged analyses of the interplay between Horatian verse and its Victorian manifestations. He devotes a chapter to an engaging exegesis of Horatian elements in the works of several Victorian poets, including Tennyson, Arnold, Clough, and Fitzgerald. * Classical World * This is a discussion of the reception of Horace at its very best, astutely combining analysis of Latin poetry with exploration of the literary and social contexts of translation, criticism and the new writing inspired by Horace. Harrison's readings illuminate both the ancient poetry and its modern counterparts, offering in-depth insights into the dynamism and malleability of the cultural capital embedded in Victorian responses to Horace. The book provides a fitting adieu to the Classical Inter/Faces series. * Lorna Hardwick, Professor Emerita of Classical Studies, The Open University, UK * Admirable and exhaustive assemblage of the impact of Horace on poets, novelists, scholars, and readers of the Victorian Age. * Richard F. Thomas, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics, Harvard University, USA *