At first, he studied oratory and prepared to engage in politics, but because he was shy, inarticulate and weak, he changed to philosophy and was influenced by Lucretius' natural philosophy. When the lawyer failed, he returned to his home in the country and began to write poems. Most of his early poems were lost, only a few short poems survived.
During the civil war, Octavian used his family's land in order to distribute land to demobilized soldiers. Later, with the help of his friends, Octavian returned the land to him. He was very grateful for this and praised it in the first song of Pastoral. Later, he joined a literary group under the protection of McKennas. At the request of McKennaz, he wrote a poem "Poetry of Farming" to match Octavian's policy of reviving agriculture, which was appreciated by Octavian. He listened to him recite it for four consecutive days.
It is said that Octavian also suggested that he write an epic poem praising the Roman Empire. After he finished the first draft of Aeneas, he was not satisfied. In order to be familiar with the epic hero's adventure, he personally went to Greece and Asia Minor for a field trip. On the way back to Rome with Octavian, I was unfortunately seriously ill. Before he died, he asked to burn the manuscript, but Octavian didn't listen to his advice and gave the Aeneas to Virgil's friends to arrange and publish. He died at the age of 5 1.
Virgil's three major works, pastoral poetry, agricultural poetry and epic Aeneas, all have their models in ancient Greek literature. Pastoral imitation of the poetry of Te Aucry Toth, the pioneer of pastoral poetry in the Hellenistic period; "Farming Poetry" imitates hesiod's teaching poetry collection "Works and Time"; The model of Aeneas is Homer's two epics. Virgil brought forth the new on the basis of learning from predecessors and reflected the reality of Rome.
Pastoral, composed of 10 songs, is Virgil's famous work. Sing the life and love of the shepherd through the solo of the shepherd, or the duet of the shepherd man and woman. However, unlike Te Aucry Toth's simple description of pastoral scenery and shepherd's love, Virgil also expressed his views and feelings about the current society and politics in his poems. Song 1 expressed personal gratitude after the land was returned; In the ninth song, he reflected the pain of people being forced to leave their homes during the war; In the fourth song, he praised the arrival of a new golden age and expressed the long-suffering people's desire to enjoy a peaceful and happy life.
Farming Poetry, with 4 volumes and more than 2,000 lines, took 7 years to complete, and is Virgil's second important work. This is a poem about the work and life of farmers in ancient Rome. At that time, Rome was an agricultural country. After the destruction of the civil war, the countryside was depressed, and Octavian implemented the policy of restoring agriculture. Virgil grew up in the countryside and was familiar with the situation in the countryside. He knows that only the prosperity of the countryside can lead to the strength of the whole country. His poem was written in accordance with Octavian's agricultural policy. However, instead of introducing agricultural knowledge and expounding agricultural policies in a boring way, he combined his professional knowledge with the description of mountains, rivers, natural scenery, historical events and even myths and legends of the motherland, making boring farming lively and interesting.
Aeneas is Virgil's masterpiece and the crystallization of his last 1 1 year, but only the first draft has been completed. The epic *** 12 tells the story of how Aeneas, a Trojan hero, came to Italy and became the founding king of Rome after the Greek allied forces captured Yili. Aeneas and his henchmen fled for millions of years. When they were about to arrive in Italy, they were blown to Carthage by a storm and received warmly by Queen Dido. At the banquet, Aeneas told Dido about the fall of Million City and how he came here through hardships. Later, Aeneas married Dido. Jupiter ordered an angel to remind him that God wanted him to go to Italy to build a new kingdom, so he decided to move on. Dido committed suicide in despair. After Aeneas arrived in Italy, he went to the underworld under the guidance of Sybil, a wizard. His late father Anchises showed him the shadow of his great descendants, from romulus to Caesar and Augustus, and other future Roman emperors. Aeneas continued to travel north to Latim. King Latinus obeyed God's instructions and promised to betroth Princess lavinia to him. However, another suitor, King Turnos of Ruturia, opposed him, which led to war. At the request of Venus, the goddess of Aeneas, the blacksmith cast armor for him, and the picture on the shield predicted the future of Rome. Troy was defeated, and Turnos killed pallas, an ally of Aeneas. Aeneas suggested that both sides of the war stop fighting, and that he should fight Turnos alone to decide the outcome of the war. The duel between the two men is about to begin, the Rutulians break the contract and the war begins again. Turnos confronted Aeneas and was killed.
Virgil wrote this epic in order to describe the establishment and history of the Roman Empire, to praise the great achievements of the founding of the Roman ancestors, and to praise Octavian himself. According to ancient Roman myths and legends, he traced the ancestors of Octavian's royal family back to the Trojan hero Aeneas, and Aeneas was the son of Venus, the god of love, thus linking the history of Roman royal family with myths and legends and proving that Octavian was a descendant of God. Epics describe the glorious Roman history and great historical figures more than once to inspire the patriotic enthusiasm of the Roman people. Through the hero's experience, the poet praised the sacred tradition of the Roman Empire and the hardships before Wang Jianguo. Through what he saw and heard in his journey to the underworld, he praised the achievements of Caesar and Octavian and affirmed the mission of the Roman Empire to rule the world. When Anse pointed out Octavian to Aeneas, he said that he was "the son of God, and how many golden ages he would rebuild in Latin, a land once ruled by Saturnalia." Finally, the poet appealed to the Romans through Anse's mouth, "Remember, you should rule all countries with your authority, which will be your specialty. You should establish a peaceful order, be lenient to obedient people, and conquer arrogant people through war. " This affirmation of the expansion policy of the Roman Empire is a manifestation of the national consciousness of Virgil slave owners.
Virgil wrote Aeneas based on two epics of Homer. Structurally, the first half of the epic is about Aeneas' adventure at sea, imitating Odysseus. The second half is about the war between Trojans and Latins, imitating the Illion. In terms of specific plots and artistic techniques, Aeneas also has many places to learn and imitate Homer's epic. First of all, the themes of both come from a system of myths and legends, that is, Troy war stories. Aeneas was also a hero of Troy. He once appeared in Homer's Ilion, and his bravery was second only to that of hector. Aeneas' adventure and Odysseus' return to their homeland took place millions of years later, and there are many similarities between the places and events that the two heroes passed through. Secondly, as in Homer's epic, the gods in Aeneas were divided into two factions and participated in the human war, with Jupiter (Zeus) as the main god leading the final outcome. As a foil in the war, friends of one side (pallas, an ally of Aeneas, and Patroclus, deputy commander of Achilles) were killed by the other side (Turnos and hector). In terms of characters, Aeneas and Turnos, Achilles and hector also formed a personality contrast. In terms of narrative techniques, both Aeneas and Odysseus used narrative techniques, and the experience of the first seven years was told by the protagonist at the banquet. In addition, there are some similar details, such as the hero's visit to hell, the blacksmith's god casting armor for the hero at the request of the goddess, holding a funeral competition and so on. Virgil, like Homer, uses a lot of metaphors and repetitions in his description.
Nevertheless, Virgil's achievement lies in his extensive use of his own national history and various achievements of ancient Greek and Roman literature from the realistic requirements at that time, giving full play to his personal style and specialty, making him innovative in inheritance and original in learning.
When Virgil portrayed the hero Aeneas, he combined the experiences of heroes (Odysseus, Achilles and hector) in Homer's epic, but paid more attention to the ideal quality of being the founder of the Roman Empire. This quality has the virtues of respecting God, being loyal to the country, being kind to people and being fair to things. In my opinion, this is the quality that a founder should have. The epic describes that Aeneas' heroic behavior only obeyed the will of the gods, that is, the political purpose of creating the Roman Empire, for which he sacrificed his love.
The love tragedy of Queen Dido described in the first four volumes of Aeneas is the most touching part of the epic. The fourth volume of the epic describes the process that Queen Dido finally committed suicide because of Aeneas' resentment and despair. Like Medea written by euripides, it has aroused the sympathy of readers throughout the ages and is a deep tragedy. Turnos, another important figure in the epic, also aroused people's sympathy to some extent. He has some similarities with the hero in Greek tragedies, that is, his death was not mainly due to his own sins or mistakes, but because he violated the will of the gods. Besides, Virgil loves peace by nature and hates war because of suffering from war and parting. However, to complete the great cause of Rome's founding, he had to undergo hard training, including war, which would inevitably lead to contradictions in the poet's thoughts. All these make the epic bring a touch of sadness.
Aeneas is different from Homer's epic and folk oral creation. It is a model of literati epic and a personal creation with high artistic accomplishment. Its language lacks the natural simplicity of Homer's epic, but its melody is precise and suggestive, and its style is serious and sad. Virgil is not good at writing war, but good at describing love psychology. Dido's love tragedy mentioned above is an example. In describing this tragic plot, Virgil not only affirmed the political necessity of Aeneas' action, but also wrote the subtle psychological process of Dido's double suicide, which Homer lacked. In addition, Virgil inherited the tradition of Homer's epic and used many vivid metaphors from daily life and natural phenomena, adding images to the poem.
Virgil's creation inherited and developed the tradition of ancient Greek poetry and played a role in connecting the past with the future. In the middle ages, he was one of the few ancient writers who were not excluded by the Christian church. Dante revered him and regarded him as a guide to hell and purgatory in The Divine Comedy. After the Renaissance, his Aeneas has been regarded as a model by epic writers, which has had a great influence on the development of modern European literature.