Event Title
Aristocracy and Agriculture: How Vergil’s "Georgics" Inspired a Wave of Agrarianism and Imperialism
Start Date
5-1-2019 12:30 PM
End Date
5-1-2019 1:45 PM
Disciplines
European History | Intellectual History
Subjects
Virgil. Georgica -- Criticism and interpretation, Virgil. Georgica -- Influence, Virgil. America -- Discovery and exploration -- British -- Sources, Imperialism, Agriculture -- Early works to 1800
Abstract
Georgics, written by Vergil in 29 B.C., though on its surface about labor and agricultural, uncovered deeper thought about the politics of its time period. When a prominent English poet, John Dryden, translated the Georgics in 1697, it had a profound effect upon English society. It soared to popularity, and introduced the field of agrarian science to the upper class, while at the same time inspiring a wave of similar agricultural poems. At the same, time, the ideas extolled in the Georgics about the necessity of labour to make land purposeful helped justify British colonization of America. Though Georgics was never only about agriculture, through the years it has been used to discuss imperialism, economy, and class.
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/28638
Included in
Aristocracy and Agriculture: How Vergil’s "Georgics" Inspired a Wave of Agrarianism and Imperialism
Georgics, written by Vergil in 29 B.C., though on its surface about labor and agricultural, uncovered deeper thought about the politics of its time period. When a prominent English poet, John Dryden, translated the Georgics in 1697, it had a profound effect upon English society. It soared to popularity, and introduced the field of agrarian science to the upper class, while at the same time inspiring a wave of similar agricultural poems. At the same, time, the ideas extolled in the Georgics about the necessity of labour to make land purposeful helped justify British colonization of America. Though Georgics was never only about agriculture, through the years it has been used to discuss imperialism, economy, and class.
Notes
3rd place winner of the Karen E. Hoppes Young Historians Award for Outstanding Research and Writing.