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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens that Ovid regrets instantly in Amores 1:7?

2. Where is Ovid born?

3. Who is Ovid accused of having an affair with in Amores 2:7?

4. In Amores 2:11, who is traveling?

5. What reason does Ovid give for his impotence in Amores 3:7?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the incident with Cypassis who is Corinna's lady maid.

2. What is the nature of the relationship between Corinna and Ovid in Amores book 1? What is the major impediment that stands in their way?

3. What does Ovid say about abortion?

4. What is the event that happens to cause Ovid to first offer an elegy and then scorn regarding the writing tablet?

5. Briefly describe Ovid's dream. What does the dream interpreter say it means?

6. What does Ovid devote an entire poem to compare lovers to in Amores? Why are they similar?

7. What reasons does Ovid give for wanting to be a ring on Corinna's finger?

8. Explain what happens the time Ovid is impotent.

9. Why is Ovid banished from Rome?

10. Who dies in Amores 2? Does this character have a special ability?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assuming that Ovid has not created a persona for his poems, what is the nature of the man we get to know through his poems?

Part 1. Is it likely that Ovid was writing through a persona or that his poems are from personal experience?

Part 2. What is his character like in the poems? Does it evolve?

Part 3. What logical life history or situation can explain his changing nature?

Essay Topic 2

Ovid is a writer whose poetry is still being read two thousand years after he wrote it and people are still relating to it. Why is this?

Part 1. What is it about Ovid's writing that makes it timeless?

Part 2. What part of Ovid's poetry have you managed to relate to personally?

Part 3. Do you think Ovid's work will continue to be accessible to future generations?

Essay Topic 3

In the beginning of his book, Ovid follows classical tradition and evokes his muse. Write an essay about muses.

Part 1. What is a muse?

Part 2. Who are the nine muses and what does each of them do?

Part 3. What relationship do poets like Ovid have with the muses?

(see the answer keys)

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