2 h 42 minAudiobook6 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
What if love is a craft—and your teacher never quite means everything he says?
In The Art of Love, Ovid puts on the teacher’s mantle and offers young Romans lessons in desire. This Latin poem in elegiac couplets begins with a bold claim: love can be learned, like steering a ship or driving a chariot. His classroom is Rome, with its crowds, festivals and opportunities to meet.
The first book teaches men how to find and win a lover; the second asks how to keep her. In the third, women receive their own lessons. Myths mingle with practical advice as Ovid jokes about his method. Beneath the mock manual lies a sharp picture of city life under Augustus.
What you’ll discover
- A mischievous teacher Meet a poet who offers lessons in love while making fun of his own authority.
- Rome in the crowd Follow desire into the gathering places and festivals that fill Ovid’s lively Roman world.
- Myths beside everyday life Discover how Chiron, Achilles and Penthesilea enter a playful conversation about learning to love.
- Beyond the first conquest Explore Ovid’s warning that keeping a lover takes more than winning one.
- Lessons change sides Watch the teacher turn to women, giving them their own place in his romantic classroom.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy witty poetry, Roman city life, Greek myths retold with a smile, and sharp observations about flirting, jealousy, gifts and the games people play.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Love is a craft that can be taught
- Go where the crowds gather to meet someone
- Win her with attention, letters and persistence
- Lasting love needs character, not just beauty
- Habit, absence and jealousy keep love alive
- Women need arms too, starting with careful grooming
- Accomplishments, wit and caution win lasting admiration
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Art of Love
by Ovid · 2
A Roman poet trains lovers like soldiers, from finding a partner to keeping her, with Icarus as a warning.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Can love be taught like sailing or chariot racing? The Roman poet Ovid says yes.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Love is a craft that can be taught
Ovid opens by claiming that love, like sailing or driving a chariot, answers to skill. Art drives ships with sails and oars, he says, and the same art can guide Love. He casts himself as the tutor of Cupid, as the centaur Chiron once tutored the young Achilles.
He is careful about his claim. He does not say the Muses or Apollo gave him his lessons. He says experience did, and that he sings the truth as a man who has lived it. He also announces that his song is for permitted affairs and not for respectable wives, whose bands and long gowns he asks to keep away.
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What is The Art of Love about?
It is a Roman poem of advice on love. The first two books teach men to find, win and keep a partner, and the third gives women advice on dress, charm and care.
Who was Ovid?
Ovid was a Roman poet who wrote in the age of Augustus. His other works include the Metamorphoses and the Amores.
Is The Art of Love meant to be serious advice?
Ovid writes with irony and playfulness. He mixes real tips, such as gentleness and careful grooming, with exaggerated schemes and myths, so the poem reads as entertainment and a picture of Roman social life.
More by Ovid
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