The Question of Grief: Seneca's Consolations and Modern Grief-writing

Overview:

This interdisciplinary15-CAT module, to run for the first time in Term 1 of 2026-7, takes a deep-dive into two fascinating texts dated to the early 40sCE which each set out to console a bereaved woman: Seneca’s Consolation to Marcia, a noblewoman who has lost her son, and his Consolation to Helvia (his own mother), who is mourning his political exile under Claudius. In Seneca’s Roman Stoicism, grief is a question – or an ethical and political crisis - because it has the potential to reduce all men to ‘womanly weakness’, and thus to crack the ‘poker-face’ so often required of the imperial subject close to autocratic power. In consoling the bereaved, the consoler must steer an impossible path between coming close to this ‘womanly’ pain and maintaining immunity from it in order to offer solace. Over 9 weeks, in a combination of interactive lectures and seminar work, we will explore how Seneca makes ‘consolation’ an experimental domain for thinking about grief as self-disturbance and as a pressure point in both Stoic ethics and contemporary political life in first-century Rome. The autocratic imperial world of Seneca’s texts (a world in itself, not just a sublimation of an ideology we can locate elsewhere) is one of violence and loss in which consolability and the very legibility of mourning are up for scrutiny. Throughout the module, and in response to Seneca’s own agitations to think differently about familiar ideas, we will read two modern texts which offer creatively experimental meditations on grief: Say Something Back; Time Lived Without its Flow (2016), two works in prose and verse in the wake of her son’s death by celebrated British Poet Denise Riley, and Carol Shield’s 2002 novel Unless, about a mother grappling with the loss of her eldest daughter, who has withdrawn from life and sits on a street corner like a ghost. We will also dip into a range of supplementary ancient texts. Our discussions will be underpinned by classical scholarship on Seneca, Stoicism and ancient theory of emotions, but also by modern thinking on grief and mourning from Freud onwards.

Please note that this module discusses topics some students may find upsetting, such as grief, loss, death, depression and violence. Please consider this before selecting the module.

Module Aims:

This module invites students to immerse themselves in two mid-first century philosophical prose texts that offer multiple different ways into thinking about grief, loss and mourning in early imperial Rome. This is an opportunity to learn more about Stoicism as a practical ethics (and what that looks like, in practice, in Seneca’s highly literary, creative and layered texts), and about the ancient ‘genre’ or form of address that is ‘consolation’. We will think about consolation as a relational scene, and about the politics and rhetoric of consolation – in Seneca’s Rome, and more broadly. But we will also open up the critical and creative possibilities of consolation through the stimulus of two modern texts. Students will be free to take up this stimulus in ways of their choosing, and the coursework options will reflect this. Some will be more interested in focusing on ancient philosophical thought; others might concentrate on historical and political issues, or on literary themes and poetics; others might treat the module as an experiment in comparativist reading of ‘grief writing’ between antiquity and modernity. The lectures and seminars will also consider what might be at stake for us as classicists in pursuing these different modes of reading, and how we might join dots between them.

Set texts for all students (to be read in English)

Ancient Texts (core)

Seneca, Consolation to Marcia

Seneca, Consolation to Helvia

[Translations by H. Hine in Fantham et al, 2014, Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Hardship and Happiness, Chicago and London]

Ancient texts (supplementary)

Cicero, Tusculan Disputations Book 2

Pseudo-Ovid, Consolation to Livia

Statius, Silvae 3.3

[Students are advised to use the Loeb translations for these supplementary texts]

Modern texts

Carol Shields (2002) Unless, Harper Collins, London.

Denise Riley (2016) Say Something Back; Time Lived Without its Flow, New York Review Books, New York.

Set text for Q800/Latin text students

Seneca, Ad Marciam, using the recent open access commentary Tutrone, F. 2023. Healing Grief. A Commentary on Seneca’s Consolatio ad Marciam, Berlin: De Gruyter

Healing Grief....

Outline Syllabus

Term 1

The question of grief: how to console?
Seneca’s ad Marciam and ad Helviam: introducing the texts
Modelling grief: consoling Marcia
Seminar: ad Marciam and Say Something Back
Mother wounds and family bonds: the ad Helviam
Reading Week
Perverse temporalities: mourning and melancholia (with Time Lived Without its Flow)
Seminar: ad Helviam and Unless
Face to face with mourning: reading grief in Rome
Round table discussion

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should:

Gain deeper knowledge and understanding of Stoic thought and its development or enactment in Seneca, with a focus on two of his consolations;
Gain understanding of culturally and historically specific conceptualisations of grief and mourning in early imperial Rome;
Develop advanced skills in the close reading of literary texts;
Have an advanced capacity to engage critically with secondary scholarship, and an increased awareness of critical approaches to classical texts;
Have developed their skills in communicating ideas in written and oral form.
Have been introduced to several different modes of reading ancient texts, including comparativist approaches.

In addition, final year students will:

Develop the ability to set their findings into a wider comparative context, drawing in other aspects of the study of the ancient world;
Engage creatively with a wider range of secondary literature that includes discussion of classical literature within broader comparative, including critical-theoretical, frames.

Q800 students and students taking the Latin text option should also have:

An increased facility in reading Latin literature
A good understanding of Latin terminology and expression relating to grief, mourning, and Stoic theory of emotions.
An ability to engage at depth with a modern philological commentary on a Latin text.

Transferable Skills

Critical thinking;
Problem solving;
Active lifelong learning;
Communication skills;
Information literacy;
Professionalism.

Reading List (please note a fuller reading list with specific recommendations week by week will be provided on the Moodle page from Sept. 2026)

Baltussen, H. ed. 2013. Greek and Roman Consolations: Eight Studies of a Tradition and its Afterlife. Swansea.

Eng, D.L. and Kazanjian, D. eds. 2003. Loss: The Politics of Mourning. Berkeley, CA.

Freud, S. 1917a ‘Mourning and Melancholia’ in SE 14: 243-58.

Freud, S. 1917b ‘On transience’ in SE 14: 303-7.

Graf, C. 2024. Seneca’s Affective Cosmos. Subjectivity, Feeling and Knowledge in the Natural Questions and Beyond, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Graver, M. R. 2007. Stoicism and Emotion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Graver, M.R. 2023. Seneca, the Literary Philosopher, Cambridge.

Gunderson, E. (2015) The Sublime Seneca: Ethics, Literature, Metaphysics, Cambridge.

Holloway, P.A. 2010. ‘Gender and Grief. Seneca's Ad Marciam and Ad Helviam matrem," in Women and Gender in Ancient Religions: Interdisciplinary Approaches, ed. Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Paul A. Holloway, and James A. Kelhoffer, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck

Inwood, B. 2005. Reading Seneca. Stoic Philosophy at Rome, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

James, D. 2019. Discrepant Solace. Contemporary Literature and the Work of Consolation, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ker, J. 2023, ‘Consolation’ in D.Konstan et al (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy, Oxford, 240-55.

Konstan, D. 2016. ‘Understanding grief in Greece and Rome’ CW 110.1: 3-30.

Kristeva, J. 1992. Black Sun. Depression and Melancholia, New York: Columbia University Press.

Lecomte, H. 2023 ‘On this near side of a cut’: Fault Lines as ‘principle of song’ in Denise Riley’s Grief-Writing’ Études Britanniques contemporaines 64 https://doi.org/10.4000/ebc.13381

Naas, M. 2004. ‘When it comes to mourning’ in Jacques Derrida: Key Concepts, London and New York, 113-29.

Pieters, J. 2022. Literature and Consolation. Fictions of Comfort, Edinburgh.

Ricciardi, A. 2003. The Ends of Mourning. Psychoanalysis, Literature, Film, Stanford, CA.

Rimell, V. 2020. ‘The intimacy of wounds: care of the other in Seneca’s Consolatio ad Helviam’ AJP 141: 537-74.

Wilcox, A. 2006. ‘Exemplary grief: gender and virtue in Seneca’s consolations to women’ Helios 34.1.73-100.

Williams, G. 2006. ‘States of exile, states of mind: paradox and reversal in Seneca’s Consolatio ad Heluiam’ in K. Volk and G. D. Williams eds. Seeing Seneca Whole: Perspectives on Philosophy, Poetry, and Politics. Leiden, 147-73.

Wilson, M. 2013. ‘Seneca the consoler? A new reading of his consolatory writings’ in Baltussen ed., 93-122.

Zainaldin, J.L. 2021. ‘“We fortunate souls”: timely death and philosophical therapy in Seneca’s Consolation to Marcia’ AJP 142.3: 425-60.

Assessment

There are two assessments for this module.

The first assessment, due at the end of term 1, is worth 40% of the overall module grade. Students are asked to choose a pair of scholarly articles on Seneca’s consolations, from a choice of three pairs, and to write a 1500-1750-word critical analysis comparing and contrasting the two articles. Note that at the start of the module, students will be given detailed guidelines on this assessment, plus marking criteria (see below)
The second assessment is an essay or literary commentary due in at the start of Term 2, and is worth 60% of the overall module grade.

Students studying the module in translation will answer one from a choice of five set essay questions focused on the module’s key questions and debates, of 2,500–3,000 words.

Q800/Latin text students will write literary commentaries on two out of a choice of six short Latin passages from the set text, totalling 2,500–3,000 words, in which they are asked to relate their close readings to the wider themes and questions of the module.

Marking criteria for assessment 1)

2^nd YEAR - 1^st class work will be work of the highest quality, demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, a considerable degree of sophistication and some degree of originality. Both summary and critical comparison will be precise, concise, well organized, clear, well written and accurate, with appropriate, correct referencing. The work will demonstrate an intelligent and sophisticated critical engagement with the scholarship and an ability to situate the discussions within a broader intellectual/academic context, with a focus specifically on the study of Seneca and/or grief-writing.
2^nd YEAR - Exceptional 1^st class: In addition to the above, work in this category will demonstrate a truly exceptional level of originality and sophistication not out of place in high-class graduate-level work.
3^rd YEAR - 1st class work will be work of the highest quality, demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, a considerable degree of sophistication and some degree of originality. Both summary and critical comparison will be precise, concise, well organized, clear, well written and accurate, with appropriate, correct referencing. The work will demonstrate an intelligent and sophisticated critical engagement with the scholarship, an ability to situate the discussions within a broader intellectual context, and a critical awareness of wider critical and scholarly trends in the study of Seneca and/or grief-writing.
3^rd YEAR - Exceptional 1^stclass: In addition to the above, work in this category will demonstrate a truly exceptional level of originality and sophistication which may achieve or be close to publishable standard.

2^nd YEAR - Upper 2^nd class essay will be work of very good quality, demonstrating very good knowledge and understanding, and some degree of sophistication. Both summary and critical comparison will be accurately written, well organized and accurate, with appropriate, correct referencing. The work will demonstrate some critical engagement with the scholarship and an ability to situate the discussions within a broader intellectual context, with a focus specifically on the study of Seneca and/or grief-writing.
3^rd YEAR - Upper 2nd class essay will be work of very good quality, demonstrating very good knowledge and understanding, and some degree of sophistication. Both summary and critical comparison will be accurately written, well organized and accurate, with appropriate, correct referencing. The work will demonstrate a good level critical engagement with the scholarship and an ability to situate the discussions within a broader intellectual context, with a focus specifically on the study of Seneca and/or grief-writing.

2^nd YEAR - Lower 2nd class essay will be work of moderate quality, demonstrating a degree of knowledge and understanding. It may rely on uncritical and vague description. Both summary and critical comparison will be mostly accurate and well organised, but may be less than thorough and lack clarity in places. The work will demonstrate insufficient critical engagement with the scholarship, and intellectual contextualization will be very limited.
3^rd YEAR - Lower 2nd class essay will be work of moderate quality, demonstrating a degree of knowledge and understanding. It may rely on uncritical and vague description. Both summary and critical comparison will be mostly accurate and well organised, but may be less than thorough and lack clarity in places. The work will demonstrate insufficient critical engagement with the scholarship, and intellectual contextualization will also be insufficient.

2^nd YEAR - 3rd class essay will either 1) deviate from the question set, either completely or at significant points; or 2) will be presented in a manner that shows few signs of coherent thought and in a form that is ill-referenced and poorly formulated; or 3) demonstrate little or no capacity to engage critically with the scholarship.
3^rd YEAR - 3rd class essay will either 1) deviate from the question set, either completely or at significant points; or 2) will be presented in a manner that shows few signs of coherent thought and in a form that is ill-referenced and poorly formulated; or 3) show little acumen in summarizing, analysing critically and contextualizing the scholarship.

2^nd YEAR - fail essay will display considerable ineptitude in terms of knowledge, essay-structure, use of English, and referencing.
3^rd YEAR – fail essay will display considerable ineptitude in terms of knowledge, essay-structure, use of English, and referencing; or 2) offer no critical engagement with the scholarship.