![]() 1 Accounts of Priam’s attempts to ransom his dead son Hector’s body almost invariably emphasize the deep pathos of his loss and also his humiliation in having to plead with his son’s killer. ![]() ![]() When advising his readers on how to word love letters, for example, he suggests they send “a cargo of flatteries” and “pile / the entreaties on” (33), explaining the efficacy of these strategies with reference to the Trojan War: “By speaking fair / Priam made Achilles give back By situating portions of the Art of Love that are especially troubling for modern readers in the broader context of the poem’s dominant comic mode, I hope to show how our modern disquiet over those parts of the poem addressing rape can point us productively toward critiques inherent in Ovid’s poem itself.Īs David Malouf suggests in his introduction to the Modern Library edition of Ovid’s Art of Love, much of the humor in the poem comes from “comic disproportion” (xi), the utter mismatch in tone between Ovid’s lighthearted love advice and his many serious metaphors and examples. ![]() Given that some of its humor is no longer funny for modern readers, what is the pedagogical value of humor in Ovid’s Art of Love today? In particular, portions of the poem depicting and even endorsing rape pose challenges for teachers who wish to acknowledge and share Ovid’s humor in Art of Love with their students. ![]()
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