These two overlapping arrangements (2+2+2 and 3+3) both support the overall argument of the poem by stressing its clarity and orderly progression, and by giving discursive form to the interrelationship between its several parts. At the same time, on a slightly higher plane of abstraction, the poem can be understood as falling into halves, the first three books dealing with the basic principles of atomic theory and the latter three with the ethical implications of the theory. Broadly speaking, these stages concern the existence and behavior of atoms and void individually and in combination (books 1–2), the material nature of the soul (books 3–4), and the origin and development of human societies (books 5–6). This linear structure involves three distinct stages comprising two books each. In general, that argument proceeds in linear fashion from discussion of the simplest components of the universe to analysis of complex and unusual phenomena. For most critics, poetic structure is the servant of Lucretius’ philosophical argument. 1 For detailed analysis of these aspects of the poem’s structure see Farrell 2007, with further refer (.)ġThe structure of Lucretius’ De rerum natura is generally considered one of the poem’s better-understood aspects.
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