Written by leading specialists, the essays in Perspectives of Roman Poetry seek to provide a broad range of readers with a good understanding of some essential aspects of major Roman poets and poetic genres. The value of the essays is enhanced, for comparative purposes, by their extensive reference to modern authors. such as Shakespeare and Tolkien. For the modern reader, Latin quotations are accompanied by effective English translations.

The essays and their authors are as follows:

"The Woman's Role in Latin Love Poetry," by Georg Luck

"Autobiography and Art in Horace," by William S. Anderson

"Some Trees in Virgil and Tolkien," by Kenneth J. Reckford

"The Business of Roman Comedy," by Erich Segal

"Ovid's Metamorphosis of Myth," by G. Karl Galinsky

The preface and concluding panel discussion illumine the situation of literary criticism inthe classics and point out the need for diversity.

Perspectives of Roman Poetry resulted from a symposium held at the University of Texas at Austin in 1972. These essays offer different and, in some cases, heterodox interpretations that will serve as a basis for future discussions.