6 h 4 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Cupid rides in triumph, and a poet walks behind him in chains: love in Rome is no quiet devotion.
In The Amores; or, Amours, Ovid follows a young lover through desire, quarrels, deception and pleas for pardon. At the centre stands Corinna, a woman whose name, hair and moods we glimpse without learning who she is. The lover pursues her, flirts with others and resents his rivals. His longing comes tangled with vanity, jealousy and a sharp sense of his own absurdity.
In these short love elegies, Ovid turns Roman dinners, races and doorsteps into scenes of pursuit and secrecy. Cupid appears as a conquering general, with the poet his captive. Alongside the affairs runs another desire: the wish for lasting fame through verse. These poems play with the rules of love poetry rather than offer solemn declarations of devotion.
What you’ll discover
- Love as a triumph Meet Cupid in his chariot, turning the poet's surrender into a scene of public conquest.
- Corinna at the centre Follow a pursuit shaped by secrecy, shifting moods, quarrels and the desire for pardon.
- Rome in quick scenes Step among dinners, races, doorsteps and jealous husbands as private desire meets daily life.
- A lover worth questioning Watch charm rub against vanity, unfairness and betrayal in a lover who also mocks himself.
- The hunger to last Discover how Ovid sets the pursuit of love beside the pursuit of poetic fame.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like poems that are playful, sensual and clever, and anyone curious about Roman daily life or the roots of later love poetry. It may suit you less if you want sincere, solemn devotion.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poet turns epic into love song
- Love is a war, and Cupid wins
- Corinna and the art of secrecy
- Jealousy, betrayal and bad behaviour
- Poetry, rivals and the wish to last
- How to read and hear these poems
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- 15-minute summary
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A poet turns epic into love song
Ovid belonged to a small group of Roman poets who wrote love elegy. Before him came Gallus, Tibullus and Propertius. They wrote in elegiac couplets, a pair of lines in which a long line is followed by a shorter one. The form gave the poems a gentle rise and fall, almost like a sigh.
The first poem sets the tone with a joke. Ovid says he meant to write a serious war poem in the long epic line. Then Cupid, the boy god of love, steals one foot from every second line. The poet is left with the limping couplet of elegy, and nothing to write about but love. The poem is about poetry itself, and it shows that Ovid knows the game he is playing.
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What is the Amores by Ovid about?
It is a book of Roman love elegies in three books. A poet-lover pursues a woman named Corinna, deals with jealousy, secrecy and rivals, and jokes about his own weakness and about the craft of poetry.
Who is Corinna in the Amores?
Corinna is the beloved at the centre of the poems. Ancient readers could not name a real woman behind her, and many scholars think she is a literary figure, a mask for the poet's idea of a lover.
What does the word Amores mean?
Amores is Latin for loves or love affairs. The title points to the many scenes of desire in the book, and to the playful way the poet treats love as both a passion and a pastime.
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