|
|
|
| Free E-magazine |
| Subscribe to our Free E-Magazine on Literature. |
| Learn More |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Home > History of Literature > Latin literature
| |
| | Latin Literature
| |
| |
Latin literature depicts the culture of ancient Rome. A vast body of literary composition marks this Age and includes works in poetry, comedy, tragedy, satire history and rhetoric drawing heavily on the mature Greek literary traditions.
Latin literature can be divided into distinct periods. Amongst the surviving works in early and Old Latin the plays of Plautus and Terence remain popular till date.Classical Latin period is the high point of Latin literary history and can be divided into:
A) Golden Age (1st century B.C. - mid 1st century A.D.)
B) Silver Age (1st century A.D. - 2nd century A.D.)
Renaissance saw a survival of interest in the works of classical authors and their style was also copied. Cicero`s were believed to be the best and his style was often imitated. In the medieval age Latin was predominantly the written language. After the split of Rome into two halves - Western and Eastern, Greek which had been widely used all over the empire faded from use in the West. All the more so as the political and religious distance between the Catholic West and the orthodox Greek fast steadfastly grew. The vernacular languages in the West, the languages of modern day Western Europe developed over centuries largely in the oral tradition most of the written work was in Latin. Very gradually, in the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance it became more and more common to write in the western vernaculars.
The invention of printing made books, pamphlets, and newspaper easily accessible and affordable for the masses. However the use of Latin was still widespread till late 17th century. Thus Milton wrote many poems in English as well as Latin. Bacon and Spinoza preferred Latin as their medium of expression on the contrary Shakespeare lack of Latin knowledge was rather unusual at that time.
Even as late as late as 20th century treatises in chemistry and biology and the natural sciences were written in Latin. Upto the present day the editors of Latin and Greek texts in such series as Oxford classical texts, the Bibliothela Scriptorum, Graecorum et Romanorum Telebneiana and some others still write their introductions to their editions in polished and vital Latin. 20th and 21st Latin scholars include RAB Mynors, R S Tyrant, L D Reynolds and John Briso.
| |
| |
|
