During the last generation of the Roman Republic, a group of poets developed the genre of poetry we term "Roman Love Elegy." This new form of poetic expression owed much to Hellenistic Greek poetry and a tradition of Latin lyric poetry that had come to prominence a generation before. It was a paradoxical genre; for, while it became one of the most important forms of literary expression at Rome, it also advocated a series of moral conventions that were alien to traditional Roman standards. This course will look at the earliest examples of the genre in the work of Catullus and the fragmentary Latin poets and then move to the works of Propertius and Tibullus. At the end we will look at Ovid's response to the genre in such works as the Amores. Evaluation will be based on class participation, several short oral presentations and short papers, and a final exam. Prerequisite: Latin 202 or permission of instructor.