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Abstract
This thesis explores emulation and poetic inheritance in Vergil’s Eclogues. Emulation is the vehicle for poetic inheritance, as the new poet imitates the master in order to grow into maturity. I read these ideas in dialogue with Harold Bloom’s Anxiety of Influence. In the Eclogues, Vergil shows the cycle of poetic maturity: the ephebe poet first learns to imitate the master precursor, then the ephebe learns to curate models and finally matures into confidence where he too can be imitated as a model. explore this thesis in three parts, examining the steps in the process of poetic maturity. First, I will examine Vergil’s ephebic relationship with Callimachus as a dialogue from poet to poet, then Vergil as a curator, working with a larger conversation of Hellenistic scholars, and finally will analyze how Vergil displays his authorial journey to confidence.