Horace, Ode 1.5

Assignment:

After careful reading of Horace, Ode 1.5, share your thoughts according to the topics presented below.
To be completed between lessons 88-90.

Horace's use of imagery is what gives this Ode character. It adds interest and color. For instance, "perfusus liquidis urget odoribus" indicates that the boy in the poem is a "slippery fellow" and should be regarded with caution. "Pyrrha", meaning fire in Greek, is the complete opposite of him. Horace describes the boy marvelling at the sea "nigris aequora ventis emirabitur insolens" meaning that he likes change and impermanence. He thinks that he sees this in Pyrrha, but fire is not ever changing like the sea. In fact it will one day burn out and he will be left with nothing but cold ashes.

by Mary and Kat