Metamorphoses
Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. Internet URLs are the best. Thank You for Your Contribution!
There was a problem with your submission.
Metamorphoses
Please try again later. Keep Exploring Britannica Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens, English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian era. Bob Dylan, American folksinger who moved from folk to rock music in the s, infusing the lyrics of….
A poem and a mistake
Lord Byron, British Romantic poet and satirist whose poetry and personality captured the imagination…. It is the ultimate manifestation of male power in the poem and the hundreds of transformations that occur are often the means of escaping it. An early tale of attempted rape is narrated in Book I, involving the nymph, Daphne and the god, Apollo. Intent on raping Daphne, Apollo chases her through the forest until, utterly exhausted, she calls out to her father, the river god Peneus to rescue her:.
Destroy the shape, which pleases too well, with transformation! The tale of Daphne and Apollo, like so many stories in the Metamorphoses, is classified as an aetiological myth; that is, a narrative that explains an origin. But, as the excerpt above testifies, it is so much more than that. During the last few years, the Metamorphoses has been challenged as a legitimate text for tertiary Humanities students. Defying the hundreds of years of pedagogical tradition that has seen the poem set for both Latin students and, more recently, literary students who study it in translation, the Metamorphoses has not only been interrogated by scholars such as Richlin, but has also been the subject of increased student complaints and calls for trigger-warnings.
In response to the growing number of objections to the work, academic and university executives have been called on to take a position — not only in relation to the Metamorphoses, but in response to other materials that are perceived to render the tertiary experience unsafe. The Chancellor at Oxford, Chris Patten, has been quoted as saying that history cannot be rewritten to suit contemporary western morals. Equally as important to the debate, and the decisions that may ultimately result from it, is the life-experience of every individual in the classroom.
Amid a class of students taking notes from a lecture on the Metamorphoses, for example, may be a rape survivor. Current statistics from the United States in particular suggest that the likelihood of this is exceptionally high. Emerging statistics from across Australia are painting a similar picture. Such a situation requires alertness and sensitivity when handling texts such as the Metamorphoses. But should the work of Ovid be banned or placed among the shelves marked "Warning: What would such measures ultimately achieve?
Would it augment safe spaces? Or, would it censor discussions around rape and shut down interrogations of sex, violence and female exploitation? Would it silence one of the means of opposition to the societal sickness of rape? The Metamorphoses of Ovid has had a long and fascinating history. Its presence among the literary canon of the West has functioned as a strange but valuable mirror that has, for over two millennia, reflected social, moral and artistic customs. Pets in Victorian paintings — Egham, Surrey. The history of pets and family life — Egham, Surrey.
Available editions United Kingdom. One of the most famous attempted rapes in literature: Apollo chasing Daphne, Cornelis de Vos, Marguerite Johnson , University of Newcastle. Such is life, Ovid would say. Kicking against the pricks But for some, the Metamorphoses sits uneasily alongside its more morally and patriotically sound predecessors. Transformation, as the title says, is the theme of the book: It's very zen for a year old book that is not a major religious text right? This probably is what surprised me most about the book: Medea and mental illness, for example.
Ovid does not tell the full story and yes I will dig out Euripides' work to find out what drove her over the edge! Would they also have wondered about what caused her breakdown? Or, the stories of individuals struggling against higher powers, fate, or society. Ancient gods were assholes. Not many of the stories have happy endings, and in some, even happy-ish endings are pretty sad. However, all of them have a message, which is why Ovid selected them, and which is why so many of the stories have permeated Western culture.
Even if they now only exist by reference to a name and most people won't know the story behind the reference. My favourite of those, probably is the story of Arachne. I'm not a fan of spiders, and I had imagined all sorts of variations of a horrible monster to be the origin of all spider-related words. Arachne was a master waver who dared to enter into a weaving contest with Athena. Long story short, in Ovid's version, Arachne dared to show how unfair the gods and goddesses are and she dared to defeat Athena.
Athena throws a fit of rage and destroys Arachne's tapestry. Arachne hangs herself in a fit of rage. Yeah, I don't get this part - revenge suicide??? Athena, again, out of rage over Arachne's suicide turns her and her into a spider. Now, this is not the most logical of stories, granted, but I love that the story's metaphorical content is still applicable. I won't be able to look at spiders with quite the same level of aversion again.
Well, some of them at least. Most will still freak me out. So, yes, this book took me a few months to finish, but it was a lot to digest. A lot of stories that required some thought, a lot that just needed a break before getting to the next one. It was an amazing book. After years, this is still entertaining, thought provoking, and beautiful. In his epilogue, Ovid proclaims that his work will make him immortal. Ovid does still live in his fame, and for all the right reasons.
Lastly, a word on the Penguin edition with David Raeburn's translation: There are plenty of free or cheap translations avaialble on the internet. I tried a few of them, but none really worked. I found those translations to be either too literal or too liberal. Raeburn's work combines a great balance of keeping close to the original text while still creating a work of poetry, and even keeping the original rhyme scheme.
The Romans have a reputation as the great copycats of antiquity.
- Christmas Walruses: Counting Book for Kids (Christmas Books for Children 8).
- Qué animales somos como padres: Recuperar el instinto en la crianza (Spanish Edition).
- The Ovid Collection--A. S. Kline, Ovid's METAMORPHOSES!
- Keep Exploring Britannica!
- .
After all, these were a people who borrowed a large amount of their culture, including most of their gods, from their neighbors. This reputation for imitation certainly holds true when looking at Roman literature. Plautus and Terence borrowed wholesale from Menander and other Greek playwrights. Catullus and Propertius imitated Callimach The Romans have a reputation as the great copycats of antiquity.
Catullus and Propertius imitated Callimachus. Horace imitated the Greek lyric poets the Odes and Archilochus the Epodes. For all things flow; all things are born to change their shapes. And time itself is like a river, flowing on an endless course. Ovid wrote in a variety of poetic genres, and while some of his early love poetry was imitative he also showed an originality that was unique among his peers. First in the Heroides , and later with his masterpiece the Metamorphoses Ovid showed an originality of thought that causes him to stand out amongst his contemporaries to this day.
The Metamorphoses is a long poem divided into 15 books. The poem recites a history of Greco-Roman mythology, from the creation of the universe to the deification of Julius Caesar, and mostly moves in chronological order. However, the poem is not simply a catalogue of familiar myths and legends.
However, the myths mentioned above are only a few: Virgil knew what he did when he attached himself to Augustus' train; likewise Ovid recognized how his simultaneous praise and subversion of Augustus' legacy would play: Both are poetic, exciting, risk-taking--but also knowledgeable and deliberate. It sounds more literary and slightly antiquated, which may or may not suit your preference. Ovid remained more coy about his dirt than Apuleius or Seneca, maintaining plausible deniability with irony and entendre throughout the complex work. She is unable to initiate a conversation, but can respond to another's comments, by repeating the last words that she has heard. I never thought I would prefer a translation of Ovid which contained the word 'homie', but if Martin can be true enough to the poetry to write it, I must be brave enough to laud it.
The poem assumes that its readers have some background knowledge of these stories anyway, and instead weaves a long mythological history using the concepts of metamorphosis and change as a unifying theme. I mentioned in my review of the Heroides that I think Ovid has a real gift for getting inside the heads of these mythological characters and treating them as real people with genuine emotions and depth.
Those skills are on full display here. This book may not be the best introduction to Greek mythology although you could do far worse , as it does assume a certain level of familiarity and skips over some things. There were a few dicey years towards the end of the Roman Empire, when Christian leaders condemned the poem as shamelessly pagan, but the brilliance of Ovid won out and the poem survived to influence thinkers in the Middle Ages and beyond.
The poem continued to be extremely popular throughout this time, and the Metamorphoses was one of the most popular books in the Western world for over a thousand years over manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages alone, which is a lot. It has inspired countless artists, poets, and writers throughout this time. I shall have life. But I think the Metamorphoses was the best work of its era. I read the Mandelbaum translation, which was stellar. And you could point to the Theogony of Hesiod as an example of an earlier catalogue of mythology. Jan 08, Joe rated it it was amazing.
What I wouldn't give to travel back in time and make sweet love to you on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean. No, I don't think it's unhealthy to have lustful fantasies about Ovid. I don't care what you think! I do very much care that his work was lush, provocative and unforgettable in its revolutionary translation often taking liberties of what was at the time contemporary folk literature. A treasury of verse! Jun 19, David Lentz rated it it was amazing. I confess that reading Ovid's Metamorphoses has left me a changed man. His focus on transformation parables of ancient myths taught me quite a bit about change.
I was intrigued by how often unwanted change was unwillingly created by life-denying action that angers one of the gods. All the great figures of ancient times are here: The origins of common fables must have had their ancient roots in Ovid. So much of art, especially painting, music and literature, owes its transformation from the tales articulated with wit and charm by Ovid.
This is an important window into ancient times and the stories must have been intriguing to hear in engaging oratory. This is genuinely a great work of literature and the pages really fly by rapidly. These tales of Ovid on change helped me understand better the constant role of change in my own personal transformation.
And, thus, the tales of Ovid transformed me in the reading and in the writing transformed Ovid into immortality. Readers who have previously read modern anthologies of Greek and Roman myths. This book should be an absolute delight to anyone interested in European literature or art. Written in the first century AD it represents the first effort to anthologize Greek mythology and integrate the whole into the history of the Roman empire. I only regret that as undergraduate I never took a course with this work on the program.
Having read the Metamorphoses without the benefit a classics professor to guide me I am quite glad that it was not the first collection of Greek myths that I read. I had earlier read Thomas Bullfinch's and Edith Hamilton's anthologies both of which were written for individual reading without the benefit of academic supervision.
My advice would be read either Bullfinch or Hamilton first and then at a later point in time when in the mood to return to Hellenistic culture read Ovid's work. Very enjoyable translation indeed. But much will depend on how much you are put off by some expanding of the original, and some rhyme both internal and line-end. Now on their left they had already passed the isle Very enjoyable translation indeed.
The Metamorphoses
The boy had now begun to take delight in his audacity; he left his guide and, fascinated by the open sky, flew higher: The father — though that word is hollow now — cried: There, where the boy was buried, now his name remains: Personally I quite liked the Arachne section included in the doc above, but these things are all a matter of taste. The Birth of Narcissus Narcissus was fathered by Cephisus, who "forcefully ravished" the dark river nymph, Liriope.
Narcissus was so beautiful that, even in his cradle, you could have fallen in love with him. His family asked a seer whether he would live to a ripe old age. He replied, "Yes, if he does not come to know himself.
However, ultimately, according to Ovid, it was proven to be true for two reasons: Sweet Sixteen At the age of 16, Narcissus could be counted as both a boy and a man. Both males and females fell in love with him. However, Ovid says that "his soft young body housed a pride so unyielding that none of those boys or girls dared to touch him.
- See a Problem?.
- Pushing Your Book to First Place (By Dissecting Amazons Genome 1).
- ADDITIONAL MEDIA.
- The Last Oracle: The White Mage Saga #1 (The Chronicles of Lumineia).
There are three components: Narcissus was proud or vain. He or his pride was unyielding. None of his admirers dared to touch him. What is unclear is whether he rejected the approaches of his admirers. Did he not yield to their approaches? Alternatively, did he appear to be so unyielding that they didn't make any approaches?
Did none dare to approach him? The Importance of Gender It's important to recognise that Narcissus' admirers were of both genders. He was equally attractive to both. Equally, he implicitly rejected approaches from both genders, so there is no reason to suspect that his sexuality was resolutely either heterosexual or homosexual or bisexual.
The Arrival of Echo The narrative accelerates with the entry of Echo. She is unable to initiate a conversation, but can respond to another's comments, by repeating the last words that she has heard. She falls in love with Narcissus. When he detects her presence, he says "I would die before I would have you touch me.
The Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising 11, lines, 15 books and over myths. Metamorphoses, poem in 15 books, written in Latin about 8 ce by Ovid. The work is a collection of mythological and legendary stories, many taken from Greek sources, in which transformation (metamorphosis) plays a role, however minor. Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a nexus of some
He scorns her and she wastes away, almost anorexically, until only her voice is left. At this point, Ovid mentions that Narcissus has treated her exactly as he has treated both female and male admirers. May he too be unable to gain his loved one! As he drinks from the pool, he becomes enchanted with the beautiful reflection that he sees. He has become "spellbound by his own self".
However, at this stage, there is no suggestion that he knows that the image is himself: However, as a result of the curse, the Subject could not attain his Object, himself. The thing you are seeing does not exist; only turn aside and you will lose what you love. What you see is but the shadow cast by your reflection; in itself it is nothing. It comes with you, and lasts while you are there; it will go when you go, if go you can. Ovid's caveat comes after the event, when he is writing his tale. Narcissus must acquire knowledge of his predicament on his own. He must come to know himself alone.
Narcissus' Love Narcissus' dilemma is that he can't reach or attain his love: Only a little water keeps us apart. I am myself the boy I see. I am on fire with love for my own self. It is I who kindle the flames which I must endure. Woo or be wooed? But what then shall I seek by my wooing? What I desire, I have Because he already possesses himself in fact, he is self-possessed , his desire is futile.
He cannot acquire again what he already has. Separation and Pursuit His one response is: This process of separation would make it possible to both desire and acquire. However, again, it is a futile endeavour. My Ill-Starred Love Narcissus realises that he can never touch the object of his love, because it is watery and illusory. As his image recedes in the pool, he pleads: Let me, by looking, feed my ill-starred love. Even if the object of my gaze is myself. He remains trapped in his self-possession. Woe is Me Narcissus, absorbed by his own image, remains by the pool and does not eat or drink.
Like Echo before him, he wastes away. His last words before he dies are: Normally, to "know yourself" would be good advice and might prolong life. Here, knowledge will abbreviate Narcissus' life. I wonder whether the verb "know" is being used in a different sense to knowledge, perhaps something analogous to the "Biblical sense"? Was his problem knowing himself as he might know an Other? Alternatively, is there an implication that the illusion could have continued had he not recognised himself? When they are preparing his funeral pyre, the only evidence of him they can find is "a flower with circle of white petals round a yellow centre", a narcissus.
It's arguable that the reason Narcissus loved in vain, is that he loved in vanity. If initially he loved another, eventually he loved his own image. However, in doing so he was deluded, or he deluded himself. The object of the pursuit needs to be an Other, an Object, not the Subject. It takes two to make one. Vanity or excessive pride can be an obstacle in this quest. Same Sex Attraction The second issue relates to whether the Object needs to be an Other, someone who is not like you. In other words, someone who is different, someone who is of a different gender.
If the former, is homosexuality a form of "narcissism"? I don't think that the original Narcissus myth implies anything about homosexuality. Initially, Narcissus did not yield to approaches by either gender. There was no differentiation between heterosexuality and homosexuality. They were equally available and appropriate. It's true that, inevitably, Narcissus saw a male image in the pool, just as a woman would have seen a female image. He also rejected the advances of the female Echo as he did previously reject the advances of both genders. However, I don't see the myth as a caveat against same sex attraction and relationships.
Leaving Room for An Other The real issue seems to be a preoccupation or an obsession with yourself, the obsession of Subject for Subject. This is the "strange madness" that Ovid refers to. In other words, the myth itself suggests that it is not sufficient for a Subject to be attracted to itself, a Subject needs an Object, regardless of gender.
Although Echo was originally a nymph capable of giving love to Narcissus, her fate in mythology suggests that, while it might have been legitimate for Narcissus to fall in love with Echo, it wasn't appropriate for Narcissus to fall in love with his own echo. Ultimately, Narcissus died by his own hand, killed by a reflection or an echo of his former self. A Queer Aesthetic https: Jun 23, Akemi G. I've been reading retelling of Greek mythology all my life, so it's probably time to read it in a more authentic form.
- Historical Dictionary of the Civil War (Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest).
- The Internet Classics Archive | Metamorphoses by Ovid!
- Old Ghosts Do Die;
- Kicking against the pricks.
- Metamorphoses - Wikipedia.
There are many English translations for Metamorphoses. I think the enjoyment of reading depends very much on the quality of translation, so this review compares the various versions. Translated by Charles Martin Norton I bought this after reading this comparison. It's subtly but undeniable frustrating to me. I guess the first paragraph invocation is not the best passage I've been reading retelling of Greek mythology all my life, so it's probably time to read it in a more authentic form. I guess the first paragraph invocation is not the best passage to get a good idea.
So here is the beginning of Book 3, the story of Cadmus: And now, his taurine imitation ended, the god exposed himself for what he was to cowed Europa on the isle of Crete. In an action both paternal and perverse, the captured maiden's baffled father bids her brother Cadmus to locate the girl or face an endless term of banishment. Now they had landed on the Cretan soil, when Jupiter dropped the disguise of a bull, to reveal himself as the god who he was. Anxious for news, Europa's father commanded Cadmus to search for his kidnapped sister. Not sure if it's any better or worse than Martin translation.
Meanwhile the father of the ravished girl, not knowing what had taken place, commands Cadmus, his son, to find Europa or to suffer exile from Agenor's land-- a cruel threat, but born of love! A notable feature of this edition is that it has no Introduction, Translator's Notes, and annotations. It only has modest Afterword. So you jump in, just as you would when you read contemporary books.
I like it--I read for fun, so the less hassle, the better. However, because all explanatory points are incorporated in the main text, some people might find it slow.