Odes 1.11 by Horace

As part of the 2021 Centennial Celebration of the Poetry Society of Texas, Seadog Enterprises is posting "Forever Poetry," a series of short videos of poetry through the ages. Made famous by the Robin Williams character in "The Dead Poet's Society," the phrase "seize the day" has come to mean a great deal to many people. Many people do not realize that the phrase was first used by the Roman poet, Horace.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The Odes (Latin: Carmina, as in "Carmina Burana") are a collection in four books of Latin lyric poems by Horace. The Odes were developed as a conscious imitation of the short lyric poetry of Greek originals – Pindar, Sappho and Alcaeus are some of Horace's models. His genius lay in applying these older forms to the social life of Rome in the age of Augustus. The Odes cover a range of subjects – Love, Friendship, Wine, Religion, Morality, Patriotism; poems of eulogy addressed to Augustus and his relations; and verses written on a miscellany of subjects and incidents, including the uncertainty of life, the cultivation of tranquility and contentment, and the observance of moderation or the "golden mean."

The Odes have been considered traditionally by English-speaking scholars as purely literary works. Recent evidence by a Horatian scholar suggests they may have been intended as performance art, a Latin re-interpretation of Greek lyric song.

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