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Virgil, Romance, and Middle School // Haley Riddle

             Book IV of The Aeneid is giving me major middle school flashbacks. Dido's "inward fire" (Virgil, line 3)  of love for Aeneas reminds me of the days when my friends and I would obsess over boys and truly believe what we felt was love. Now, I'm not saying Dido was not in love, I just think Virgil did a great job showing us the fierce impact of Cupid's arrow by describing Dido's emotions in such an overly intense way. For example, in line 5, we are told that Aeneas' words "remained with her to haunt her mind." Again, I can't help but think back to the time when all my preteen friends and I could ever seem to talk about was some boy or who had a crush and the question of whether or not that crush liked them back. 

            Another scene in Book IV that causes me to reminisce on those awkward years begins on line 130, when Juno conjures up a plan to marry Dido and Aeneas. She hopes to put the two alone together seemingly by happenstance by causing a storm and forcing the lustful lovers to hide together in a cave. It's like in middle school when your friends would "accidentally" leave you with the person you were so obviously crushing on, as if they were being helpful and not obvious at all. They would then run away giggling while you and your crush would stand there, awkwardly, forgetting how to speak. Of course, in middle school we did not do anything close to what Dido and Aeneas did, but still, you get what I mean. In high school my best friend was trying to help a guy I was interested in summon up the courage to ask me to homecoming, and her way of making it happen was by calling me over to where he was, then suddenly leaving, saying something like :"oh, I have to go do something" forcing the boy to sheepishly say "hey, since you're here..." and well, you know how it goes. It was terribly awkward but my friend meant well, I guess. 

        Anyway, those middle school years are not some that I typically choose to think back on, in fact, I try to forget them... But I will say Dido and Aeneas' scandalous love, while brief, was quite entertaining. 

Comments

  1. ClaboNovember 16, 2020 at 10:59 PM

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  2. ClaboNovember 16, 2020 at 10:59 PM

    I very much agree with your post. I especially agree with your last sentence in describing their love as "scandalous." It was a very forced and unnatural relationship that ended just about as fast as it began. But, like you said, it was entertaining.

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  3. Lily CaswellNovember 16, 2020 at 11:03 PM

    I was homeschooled so I’m not exactly in a position to talk about the entertaining middle and high-school drama with crushes. Juno almost reminds me of the teacher who ships the kids and will put them together for group projects. (Maybe it’s just me...)

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