Becoming a Pastoral Poet

Abstract Chapter 1 explores the multiple models for accessing the poetic tradition and learning poetic craft offered within the collection. Against traditional models that portray the poetic gift as inborn or divinely inspired, Calpurnius frames the project of becoming a poet in terms that do not reject inspiration but locate it within the context of teaching and learning within a community of singers. The opening poem has two shepherd brothers receive their divine inspiration not in a direct encounter but mediated by a written prophecy; they set themselves on the path to poetic fame by first reading the prophecy, then composing music to accompany it, and performing it again, in a collaborative model. Also collaborative, but now removed from divine involvement, is the double model presented in the central poem. There the amoebaean exchange is used in part to teach the younger of two brother-singers poetic craft while the patron functions as a prompter and an editor; both types of collaboration highlight the work involved in poetic composition.