A review by lukas_sotola
The Art of Love by Ovid

These translations by Rolfe Humphries are more serviceable than eloquent; however, that seems to be almost universally the case with translations of Latin lyric poetry. (But not, for some reason, Greek poetry, and not for epic poetry.) The tongue-in-cheek humor of many of the Amores (short love poems) and especially of the Ars Amatoria - The Art of Love, the lengthy poem billed as a jokey manual for romantic relationships from which this volume takes its title - are apparent, but probably a lot funnier if one can read the original Latin. While these works do not achieve the poetic heights that Ovid would reach in his middle and late career, it was interesting to see a different side of his writing from what he shows in The Metamorphoses, and to see the small glimmers of his storytelling ability that he would perfect in his great epic poem. A fun read, but not a must-read.