University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2015 The Poetics of the 'Carmina Priapea' Heather Elaine Elomaa University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Elomaa, Heather Elaine, "The Poetics of the 'Carmina Priapea'" (2015). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1698. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1698 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1698 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Poetics of the 'Carmina Priapea' Abstract This dissertation is on the Carmina Priapea (CP). The CP is a collection of 80 Latin epigrams that are about, in dedication to, or in the voice of the Roman god Priapus. The CP is obscene in content, notionally inferior in form and style, and curiously anonymous. The earliest scholarship was concerned with assigning a provenance to the book, but more recent scholars have turned to literary interpretation, paying increased attention to the CP’s formal elements. I aim to fill what I see as a gap in the scholarship yb offering a careful study of the CP’s poetics. Although I do not think either the date of this text or the identity of its author can ever be determined with certainty, I endorse the growing scholarly consensus that the CP was written and organized by a single hand at the end of the 1st century CE. I argue that the CP is informed by a poetic discourse that is both sophisticated and ironic. The poet of the CP is cognizant of the Neoteric and Callimachean aesthetic principles practiced by his literary predecessors and contemporaries, but he adopts these principles by adapting them into a Priapic context, which is often tinged with irony. This dissertation consists of an introduction on the unity of the poetry book and three chapters on elements I see at play in the book: repetition, materiality, and liminality. In each chapter I focus on different aspects of Priapic poetry (repetitive language, the image of Priapus, and the idea of a confined garden) as a basis from which to move outward to the poet’s thematization of these elements in the book. The poems in the CP take advantage of familiar themes by subverting readers’ expectations. My work concludes that the CP is not so much “good” poetry in spite of its obscenity, but that its power and appeal come from the complexity of certain poems in which it is left to the reader to decide what is aesthetically good or bad. This is poetry that forcefully defies its status as “literature,” while demonstrating that it does indeed deserve that status. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Classical Studies First Advisor Ralph Rosen Keywords Carmina Priapea, Priapus Subject Categories Classics This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1698 THE POETICS OF THE CARMINA PRIAPEA Heather Elomaa A DISSERTATION in Classical Studies Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 Supervisor of Dissertation __________________________ Ralph Rosen, Vartan Gregorian Professor of the Humanities Graduate Group Chairperson __________________________ Emily Wilson, Associate Professor of Classical Studies Dissertation Committee Cynthia Damon, Professor of Classical Studies Joseph Farrell, Professor of Classical Studies THE POETICS OF THE CARMINA PRIAPEA COPYRIGHT 2015 Heather Elaine Elomaa This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- sa/3.0/us/ iii carissimo sponso et amico iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank Cynthia Damon and Joe Farrell. To call them “readers” insufficiently describes their involvement with this project. Cynthia spent a semester reading the “pathetic trifles” of the Carmina Priapea with me in a special topic on the Roman Priapus, a semester in which she continually challenged me to go out on limbs while continuing to hone my language ability. She gave my dissertation the benefit of her keen eye, and this final version is all the better for it. Joe fueled my love of Latin poetry in a survey course on that topic and he continued this teaching outside of the classroom by volunteering to meet with me weekly during my first summer of dissertation work. I am forever in awe of your insight and intellect, Joe, and it has been a privilege to work with you. I owe my deepest thanks to Ralph Rosen, the chair of my committee, for what has been almost a decade of academic mentorship and support. From our early days of reading Juvenal together in 2006 to our discussions on the final touches of this dissertation, I have learned much personally, professionally, and academically. (I’ve also learned a lot about coffee and other miscellanea!) Thank you for answering that e-mail from an unknown college junior years ago, and thank you especially for believing in the value of this project when I often did not. I humbly thank all three committee members not only for reading the carmina pessimi poetae, but also for reading and giving polish to the scripta pessimae discipulae. All infelicities are my own. I would like to thank a few others whose teaching and mentorship has had a lasting influence on me. Brenda and Steve Fineberg introduced me to Greek and Latin literature in my first Classics courses at Knox College, and they have been steady v supporters throughout my graduate career. Cathy Keane remained a mentor long after I left Washington University, and I am honored to now call her my friend. Bridget Murnaghan, James Ker, and Julie Nishimura-Jensen have taught me how to be a better classicist in their courses, but they have also modeled for me perfect examples of the supportive and even-handed teacher I aspire to be. Emily Wilson helped me to formulate this topic in the prospectus workshop; her sharp questions during that early stage forced a perennial fence sitter such as myself to make assertions and develop strong opinions. I was grateful for her weekly “elevator talk” exercise when I found myself in an elevator at the Hyatt Regency Chicago being asked, “So, what’s your dissertation about?” I thank Regina Höschele for her friendly conversations with me about the CP and for her willingness to read parts of this dissertation. And, of course, I must give so many thanks to Ernestine Williams, Renee Campbell, and Stephanie Palmer for helping me to get through several administrative pickles and for doing everything they do to assist and support students. I have had the good fortune to count so many of my colleagues among my friends. First and foremost, to my cohort; Anna, Kate, and Joanna, you three have comforted me, challenged me, humored me, and, most importantly, fed me awesome desserts over the past six years. You are more than my cohort; you are my sisters and I love each one of you. Rarely, I think, does an entire year group coalesce in the way that the entering students in CLST, AAMW, and ANCH did in 2009. To Sarah Beckmann (especially), Sarah Linn, Jake Morton, Kyle Mahoney, and John Valainis; thanks for the laughs, the encouragement, and the friendship. I would be remiss to leave out those dear friends and colleagues outside of my cohort; in addition to the several people whose names could vi easily fill up these pages, I would like to thank Sam Beckelhymer, Jason Nethercut, Sarah Scullin, Charles Ham, Joslin Ham, Lydia Spielberg, and Jeff Ulrich. As most dissertating students will testify, it is difficult to take on such a looming task while being far away from family. I have had the good fortune of having my family- to-be so close by, and I thank the Galantes, the Smiths, and the Tuso-Sullivans for their love and support. My own family has steadily given me their love and support from far away and they deserve my utmost thanks. My mom may wonder where “my smarts” came from, but she can be certain that my patience and compassion, traits that have sustained me as a colleague, educator, and reader, derive solely from her. To my younger sisters, Mallory and Lindsey; from the time I went away to college to this moment when I am (finally!) finishing graduate school, you two have grown up to be responsible and caring young women. What a joy to see! I would like to thank my older sister Kristin and my brother-in-law Conor for the kind of support that cannot be enumerated or repaid. To the sweetest niece Nora; the anticipation of your birth and the smiles and giggles that our family was treated to after that blessed event has been a sustaining source of delight in an otherwise gloomy year. Finally, to Dom; in 2007 I thanked you in the acknowledgements of my undergraduate thesis as a study-abroad chum and in 2009 I thanked you in my Master’s thesis as my close friend and soundboard. Now in 2015 I thank you and dedicate this dissertation to you as my soon-to-be husband. You have worn many hats this year, but husband and best friend will be chief among them. vii ABSTRACT THE POETICS OF THE CARMINA PRIAPEA Heather Elomaa Ralph Rosen This dissertation is on the Carmina Priapea (CP). The CP is a collection of 80 Latin epigrams that are about, in dedication to, or in the voice of the Roman god Priapus. The CP is obscene in content, notionally inferior in form and style, and curiously anonymous.