Virgil's Georgics: Lines 315- 332 Notes

Question 1

What type of poem is the Georgics?

Answer 1

A didactic poem and an epyllion

Question 2

What is an epyllion?

Answer 2

A short narrative poem that shows formal affinities with epic, but makes use of the themes and poetic techniques that are not primarily characteristics of epic

Question 3

What is the context for this part of the poem?

Answer 3

Aristaeus has lost all his bees so he went to his mothe Cyrene who told him to consult Proteus, the old god of the sea

Question 4

What is the bugonia method?

Answer 4

Getting a new swarm of bees from the carcass of a bull

Question 5

What creates a Homeric tone in line 315?

Answer 5

A sudden elevation of tone

Question 6

Where/ what was Tempe?

Answer 6

A valley in Northern Greece

Question 7

Which river flowed through the Tempe?

Answer 7

River Peneus

Question 8

Who was Cyrene’s father?

Answer 8

The river god

Question 9

Who was Aristaeus’ mother?

Answer 9

Cyrene

Question 10

Where does Aristaeus go to plea to his mother?

Answer 10

The source of the River Peneus

Question 11

What are Aristaeus’ actions like in line 319?

Answer 11

Elegist lover

Question 12

What does an elegist lover mean?

Answer 12

Morning a dead love- bees

Question 13

What other character reflects the elegist style?

Answer 13

Orpheus

Question 14

What techniques are used in line 321?

Answer 14

Spondiac, caesura after first foot, anaphora

Question 15

What is spondiac?

Answer 15

Long syllables

Question 16

What effect do the techniques on line 321 have?

Answer 16

A mannered effect as the whole line is highly emphatic

Question 17

The idea of Aristaeus pleading to his mother is from what?

Answer 17

Achilles who pleads to his mother, Thetis, also a sea nymph

Question 18

What do lines 322-5 contain?

Answer 18

A series of despairing questions, filled with emotion

Question 19

What is a feature of a lament in an epyllion?

Answer 19

A series of despairing questions, filled with emotion

Question 20

Where is Thymbra?

Answer 20

A Town in the Troad (north west Turkey)

Question 21

How does Thymbra link to Apollo?

Answer 21

Apollo had a famous temple there

Question 22

Why does Aristaeus find mortal life intolerable?

Answer 22

He is the son of a god so expects immortality

Question 23

Which phrase emphasises the sarcasm of the passage?

Answer 23

Ipsa manu

Question 24

What helps to convey indignation?

Answer 24

Elisions in ‘inimicum ignem atque’ and the personification of ‘interficere messis’

Question 25

Which line is almost a golden line?

Answer 25

Line 332

Question 26

Why does Virgil use an almost golden line?

Answer 26

To end a section (clausula)

Question 27

What is a golden line?

Answer 27

Verb in the middle, two adjectives at the beginning, two nouns at the end

Question 28

What craft are they talking about in line 315?

Answer 28

Bugonia Method

Question 29

What does hubristic mean?

Answer 29

Being disrespectful to the Gods

Question 30

What can we tell from ‘and addressed his mother in this voice’?

Answer 30

Lead up to a speech

Question 31

Name a word in line 324 that is singular but is written in plural

Answer 31

Nostri

Question 32

What can ‘quid’ mean in poetry?

Answer 32

Why?

Question 33

What does spurn mean?

Answer 33

To be an enemy

Question 34

What does Aristaeus mean by ‘I leave behind, although you are my mother’?

Answer 34

He’s leaving behind his farming life even though he has an immortal mother who should have been able to help

Question 35

What normally happens after a piece of dramatic prose?

Answer 35

A calm change of tone

Question 36

What is the contrast in line 329?

Answer 36

Destroying the ‘happy’ orchards