Poetry and the Backward Glance in Virgil's Georgics and Aeneid

This paper explores the implications of parallels between three episodes in Virgil's Georgics and Aeneid, each of which involves the motif of the hero's backward glance. Orpheus in Georgics 4 loses his wife because he looks back too soon; conversely, Aeneas in Aeneid 2 and Nisus in Aeneid 9 look back too late. An examination of parallels and contrasts between the three episodes sheds light on Virgil's exploration of dichotomies between poetry and politics, individual and community, past and future.