Post-Augustan Poetry from Seneca to Juvenal

What happened to Roman poetry after its golden age? Harold Edgeworth Butler tackles one of classical literature's most fascinating questions: whether the poets of the Silver Age represent a genuine decline or an overlooked transformation. Beginning with Seneca and extending to Juvenal, Butler examines Lucan's epic ambition, Martial's sharp-edged epigrams, Statius's luxurious Silvae, and the satirical fury of Juvenal himself. He traces how the political turbulence of Tiberius, Nero, and the Flavian emperors reshaped literary ambition, replacing Augustan polish with something rawer and more desperate. Butler's 1920s scholarship remains invaluable not because it settles the debate, but because it articulates the stakes so clearly: understanding this period means asking what poetry is for in an age of tyranny, corruption, and empire. For anyone curious about how literature survives its own golden ages, this is an essential guide to voices that deserve far more attention than they usually receive.