Graduation Year
Spring 2011
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Literature
Reader 1
Ellen Finkelpearl
Reader 2
Lisa Cody
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2011 Alice Lyons
Abstract
This paper examines similarities between imagery of the countryside and the “country life” in both the poetry of Augustan Rome and contemporary American country music. It analyzes the themes of agriculture, poverty, family, and piety, and how they are used in both sets of sources to create an idealized countryside. This ideal, when contrasted with negative portrayals of urban life and non-idealized rural life, endorses an ideology that is opposed to wealth and that emphasizes the security and stability of the idyllic countryside. This ideology common to both may stem from the historical contexts of these two eras, revealing that Augustan Rome and modern America have unexpected similarities.
Recommended Citation
Lyons, Alice, "All Country Roads Lead to Rome: Idealization of the Countryside in Augustan Poetry and American Country Music" (2011). CMC Senior Theses. 102.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/102
