SOURCE: An Introduction to The Poems of Tibullus, translated by Constance Carrier, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968, pp. 7-31.

In the following essay, Michael provides an overview of Tibullus and his work, including analysis of his themes and the nature of his amorous love.

Tibullus wrote elegies, but not in the modern sense of the word. For us an "elegy" implies a sad and meditative poem written in a country church-yard. The mood defines the poetic form. But in ancient Greece and Rome "elegy" was defined only by its metrical form—a series of alternating dactylic hexameters and pentameters. Its themes and moods could vary. It is hardly necessary to attempt here to trace systematically the development of this literary genre. It should be pointed out, however, that in Greece it was not always limited, as it tends to be in the Roman treatment, to the realm of love...