The Art of Love

Author: Ovid (Ancient Rome)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Love's Art is a three-volume work: the first volume How to Win Love, the second volume How to Keep Love, and the third volume A Friend to Women. The first two volumes provide guidance to young men and women on how to handle love issues based on sociological and psychological foundations. The third volume is specifically for women, advocating for their social and family status, praising their intelligence and talent as no less than that of men, and encouraging them to be more proactive in their love lives. These views were, in fact, quite democratic and progressive at the time. If it weren't for the many descriptions of lust and the glorification of indulgent pleasures in the book, these three volumes of poetry would have been serious and pure, and would not have been considered immoral or obscene. Love's Art is a humorous educational poem with very sensual language and content, but it demonstrates the author's profound knowledge and meticulous scholarship on the subject.