Ovid's Elegy for Tibullus analysis

Michelle Satterfield

2/11/10

Out of the three Elegy types, Ovid’s Elegy for Tibullus was a poem which went from a sad beginning, to a miserable end.  Through the elegy, Ovid progressively makes the poem more tragic.  Ovid relates the grief he feels of Tibullus’ death to that of the Gods.  “No less was Venus stunned by her Tibullus’ death,” (15) with this statement, Ovid is trying to say that Venus was just as sad when her own son Aeneus died, as the town is that their great poet, Tibullus dies.  The last lines of the poem truly reveal why it is that the poem’s layout went from sad to tragic.  “Here as you fled life, your mother closed your streaming eyes, and brought her last gifts to your ashes.  Here your sister joined your mother in her grief.” (49) There is no closure in this reference whatsoever.  Ovid is saying that after a man dies, Tibullus in this case, their mother is left to close their crying eyes, and to grieve over their dead body.  Ovid flat-out says that Tibullus’ sister, and mother were grieving, and when closure is reached, this is usually not the case.