Structural imitation and genre conventions in Neo-Latin bucolic poetry
In the following the author considers the structural patterns in selected collections of neo-Latin bucolic poetry in order to sketch out a genre development. Especially important is the division originating with the commentary of Donatus of the Vergilian genres into three hierarchical levels appropriate for different phases in life, and the conception of the Eclogues as political and autobiographical allegories. Based on this, the author searches for interaction - directly invoked and formal - between the writers and the bucolic tradition, and for explicit poetological statements. Servius uses the expression bucolicum carmen in respect of how the poems stick to the conventions of humilitas, tenuitas, and rusticitas. The metaphorical reading of Galatea for Mantua and Amaryllis for Rome and the combination of a certain place with a certain age further strengthen the connection between genres, stages in life, and poetic career presented in the preface to the commentary. Keywords:Amaryllis; Bucolicum Carmen; Donatus; Galatea; Neo-Latin bucolic poetry; Rome; Vergilian genres