Disarticulation in poetry : intertextuality, gender, and the body in the Vergilian centos

This dissertation argues that the Vergilian Latin centos have much more intertextual and literary value than is imparted by their Vergilian hypotexts. In Chapter 1, I argue that the most common intertextual approach to reading centos, which prioritizes Vergilian readings, is insufficient. I suggest through a reading of the Iudicium Paridis that we should consider how centos change the meaning of Vergil’s texts, not just how Vergil changes the meaning of centos. I show through my analysis of the cento Hercules et Antaeus that we can see centos engaging with non-Vergilian texts in ways beyond allusion. In Chapter 2, I consider Ovid’s reputation as a proto-centonist. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid’s wordplay is deeply bound up in his depictions of violence, but this has so far gone underacknowledged in studies of the centos. I argue that we can read the centos Progne et Philomela, Narcissus, and Hippodamia as feminist texts that give voice to women silenced in mythology. In Chapter 3, I give a close reading of the cento Hippodamia. I suggest that its tragic elements, which have so far been overlooked, encourage reading it in terms of Senecan tragedy, which like Ovid also represents the physical violence of the narrative in the text. I argue that the cento Hippodamia subtly erases violence from the protagonist’s experience by embodying it within the construction of the text. In Chapter 4, I turn to the Christian centos. I argue that they, too, represent the text as a body, and use the form of the cento to emphasize the promise of resurrection. Throughout, I show that the Latin centos do not rely on Vergil to generate meaning or depth: the Latin centos take an active role in reshaping the myths they represent.Classic