Fourth Year Winner: Ovid’s Epistulae ex Ponto: Letters as Poems, Poems as Gifts

HUMA/CLST 4106, Writing in a Culture of Letters: Greek Epistolary Literature. CD: Angela Hug.

Abstract

After the great Roman poet Ovid was exiled by the Emperor Augustus in 8 A.D., his final written work was collected in the Epistulae ex Ponto—a collection of forty-six epistolary poems in four volumes. In each, notes the author, “letter, gift, poem and request are intertwined.” Ovid, at this time famous throughout the Empire, intended the poems as gifts, much as if a #1 music artist wrote a great song about how awesome a friend was. He also, argues the writer, used these letter-poems to “communicate requests for help.”

This submission is very well-written indeed, and the author’s argument contains considerable depth and nuance. The work is a fast, interesting read that establishes the context Ovid wrote in, explores the literary devices he used to make his requests, and indicates a direction for future research in the field. The writer has a particular talent for making complex concepts accessible, without sacrificing rigour or analysis, and the essay ably persuades as it informs, presenting a clear, nuanced argument. Excellent research, helpful appendices, and a clear and conscious structure round out the many facets of this superior essay.