Which scholar notes that Book 6 exhibits a profound sense of religious awe?

• A. Galinsky
• B. Fiachra Mac Gorain
• C. R.D Williams
• D. Camps

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is the religious dimension of Book 6. In this part of the poem, Virgil stages a powerful encounter with the sacred through Aeneas’s descent to the underworld, the Sibyl’s prophecies, and Anchises’s revelations about Rome’s destined future. This creates a sense of awe before divine order and fate that marks a turning point from martial heroism to a cosmically framed piety.

Fiachra Mac Gorain is the scholar who emphasizes this deep religious awe in Book 6. His reading highlights how the ritual atmosphere, the numinous imagery, and the reveal of Rome’s future within the underworld scene invite readers to feel the sacred at work in the epic, shaping its moral and spiritual horizon.

The other scholars associated with the options tend to foreground different aspects of the poem—such as stylistic analysis, structural or historical angles, or broader thematic readings—rather than focusing on this particular sense of awe before the divine. So the choice that centers on Mac Gorain best captures the intended emphasis on the religious awe threaded through Book 6.