Staff View
Recurrent imagery and didactic technique in Lucretius' De rerum natura

Descriptive

TitleInfo
Title
Recurrent imagery and didactic technique in Lucretius' De rerum natura
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Hill
NamePart (type = given)
Brian P.
NamePart (type = date)
1988-
DisplayForm
Brian P. Hill
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
author
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Kronenberg
NamePart (type = given)
Leah
DisplayForm
Leah Kronenberg
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
chair
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Fisher
NamePart (type = given)
Jay
DisplayForm
Jay Fisher
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Power
NamePart (type = given)
Tim
DisplayForm
Tim Power
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Volk
NamePart (type = given)
Katharina
DisplayForm
Katharina Volk
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
School of Graduate Studies
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2018
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2018-10
CopyrightDate (encoding = w3cdtf)
2018
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2b); (type = code)
eng
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2); (type = code)
lat
Abstract (type = abstract)
In this dissertation, I analyze the recurrence and subtle reformulation of various images over the course of Lucretius’ De rerum natura. In particular, I examine the multifaceted Lucretian technique which I call “incremental didacticism.” By that term, I mean to denote the process by which Lucretius often reintroduces an image which he has used earlier in the poem, such that, with each successive recurrence of that image, its slightly modified presentation poses an increased challenge to the reader in one of a number of ways.
In the first two chapters, I focus on the ways in which Lucretius increases the reader’s proximity to the events in question and gradually tests the reader to approach a given challenge with Epicurean equanimity. More specifically, the first chapter analyzes Lucretius’ use of particular military vocabulary as a means of ushering the reader ever closer to the melee of the battlefield and challenging the reader to exercise ataraxic calm in these increasingly trying scenarios. Similarly, in the second chapter, I argue that Lucretius trains his pupil to apply the lessons of the (ever less remote) past to the present day. In the third chapter, I explore another facet of incremental didacticism by arguing that Lucretius applies a common double entendre to his presentation of acorns in the poem. I demonstrate that these suggestive acorns participate in the poet’s demythologization of Venus in the natural world. The fourth chapter explores Lucretius’ use of jar imagery in philosophical argumentation, showing how the poet wrests the image from the hands of would-be philosophical detractors and applies it in ever-shifting fashion as an analogical tool in his exposition of Epicureanism. Over the course of the poem, Lucretius changes the specific referent to which the jar corresponds in these various analogies, and I track the way in which that changing specification demands increased diligence from the reader. In the fifth chapter, I explore the ways in which Lucretius employs clothing imagery as a means of signaling his affinities with the refined poetic aesthetics associated especially with Hellenistic poets, and I identify the various challenges placed on the reader which Lucretius’ subtle method of allusion to these authors entails. In a concluding section, I demonstrate how each of the sets of images studied in this project illuminates a different facet of Lucretius’ program of incremental didacticism, and I point to avenues for further inquiry on the basis of the arguments advanced in this dissertation.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Classics
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Rhetoric, Ancient--History and criticism
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Didactic poetry, Latin--History and criticism.
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Identifier
ETD_9304
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/t3-jxmj-kd59
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (236 pages) : illustrations
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Brian P. Hill
Subject
Name (authority = LCNAF)
NamePart (type = personal)
Lucretius Carus, Titus--De rerum natura
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
Back to the top

Rights

RightsDeclaration (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Hill
GivenName
Brian
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (point = start); (qualifier = exact)
2018-10-01 16:42:54
AssociatedEntity
Name
Brian Hill
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. School of Graduate Studies
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
Type
Embargo
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (point = start); (qualifier = exact)
2018-10-31
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (point = end); (qualifier = exact)
2026-03-13
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after March 13th, 2026.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
Back to the top

Technical

RULTechMD (ID = TECHNICAL1)
ContentModel
ETD
OperatingSystem (VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
CreatingApplication
Version
1.3
ApplicationName
Mac OS X 10.10.5 Quartz PDFContext
DateCreated (point = end); (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact)
2018-10-01T20:41:36
DateCreated (point = end); (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact)
2018-10-01T20:41:36
Back to the top
Version 8.5.5
Rutgers University Libraries - Copyright ©2024