Titus Lucretius, De rerum natura

Carey Seal (University of California, Davis)
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A large part of our contributor's article on Lucretius is dedicated to an extended discussion of his poem

De rerum natura

, which we reproduce below.

The literary background to the poem

The literary background to the poem

In modern times poetry has largely ceased to be a vehicle for explicit philosophical, scientific, or practical instruction, but didactic poetry – poetry that has such instruction as its explicit aim – flourished in antiquity (Gale 1994, Dalzell 1996, Toohey 1996, Volk 2002). The idea of teaching through a poem was a natural extension of the Greek conception of the poet as a conduit for divinely inspired wisdom. Hesiod (active around 700 B.C.E.) began a Greek tradition of programmatic instruction through verse with his Works and Days, in which he sets forth advice to the

4362 words

Citation: Seal, Carey. "De rerum natura". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13409, accessed 13 December 2024.]

13409 De rerum natura 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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