Ovid composed the 'Amores' at the tender of age of 18 (the age of several of my students). This set of poems, originally 5 books, was cut down by Ovid himself into a more succinct 3 books. The title itself suggests an exploration of Love in the manner of Horace or Propertius...
Not so for Ovid! Ovid, never one to do things by halves, entered into this writing of love-elegy with a satirical zest to be wondered at. These poems are about love, yes. They are written in the elegiac metre (one line hexameter, one line pentameter) yes. They mention Cupid, yes. There is a girl, yes.
But Ovid doesn't let you get away that easily. The poems are full of references to elegy's antithesis, epic. He constantly bemoans the fact that he is writing such a 'soft' (mollis) type of poetry and refuses to grant us full access to his emotions. As poet he maintains his control over his audience like a neurotic OCD puppeteer. Corinna is the girl of whom he claims adoration. We only meet her as 'puella' (the girl) in poem 3 and only by name in poem 5. We have to wait 5 poems to meet her when in Propertius' infamous love elegies, his beloved Cynthia is the first word and thus title of his whole work.
And what of this elusive girl who is given no voice, no distinguishing features? She is Corinna. Corinna is the name of the complex female Greek poet who wrote rather inextricable love verses. Corinna is also a variation on the Greek 'kore', 'girl' and importantly 'apple of one's eye'. Ovid will permit himself to be placed in the love elegist's mould by having a girl over whom he must swoon kore/puella. Sight is important to elegy, and she is also the apple of his eye. But she is 'every-girl', beautiful and L'Oreal-worthy, but she's only his metapoetical tool who will be put in the corner when he's finished with her.
