Prudentius' Agnes and the Elegiac puella Generic Interactions in Late Antique Christian Poetry

Tsartsidis, Thomas (2021): Prudentius' Agnes and the Elegiac puella Generic Interactions in Late Antique Christian Poetry. In: Mnemosyne, Vol. 74, No. 6: pp. 1034-1054

Abstract

In Peristephanon 14, Prudentius creates an inventive verse rendering of the martyrdom of Agnes. Interestingly, in this poem, the portrayal of Agnes shares many features with the elegiac puellae of Roman love elegy. Prudentius' classicising poetry is characterised by the mixture of genres and literary traditions, one of them being Roman love elegy The affinities, however, between Prudentius and the latter tradition deserve closer attention. In this paper, by identifying vocabulary, themes and motifs of Roman elegy in Peristephanon 14, I will illustrate ways in which Prudentius' Agnes can be read as a Christianised elegiac puella.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Languages and Literatures > Department 2
• Subjects: 400 Language > 400 Language
• ISSN: 0026-7074
• Language: English