Virgil's Aeneid: A Critical Description

First published in 1968, Virgil's Aeneid is to help all who approach the long and difficult poem seriously (in Latin or in English) to read it with discerning appreciation. This is not a handbook, nor is it a commentary: it is a critical description, from a number of aspects, of a poetic structure. A detailed analysis of the twelve books is preceded by a preliminary exploration of the poem's central purpose, a careful reconstruction of the historical and artistic circumstances, and a description of the main outlines of the poem's structure; two further chapters provide a discussion of a number of theoretical problem and an analysis of the verbal fabric. This book will be of interest to students of classical literature and history.