Who Wrote the Metamorphoses and the Art of Love

The Metamorphoses Introduction

By the time Ovid sat down to write The Metamorphoses around the year 2 A.D., he had already established himself as i of Rome'south about popular poets. Ovid'southward path to stardom paralleled that of many pop musicians, writers, and filmmakers today: He picked a genre—in his case, love poetry—and stuck to it, working at it and working at it until it was similar putty in his hands. There'due south no question that the books Ovid wrote during this menses are pretty astonishing (we especially recommend the Heroides, a serial of poems presented as letters from jilted mythological ladies to their deadbeat boyfriends and husbands). That said, they seem to have left him unsatisfied. What do yous do with a scattering of putty, anyway?

Something started to trouble Ovid. Even if he was top-of-the-heap as far equally love poets were concerned, correct beside him there was an even taller heap, with a different poet on top. This poet'due south name was Virgil, and the heap he sat on was called epic poetry. (If you want to know more about him, bank check out our Shmoop guide to the Aeneid.) "Arrrgh... that no good, stuck upwards Virgil," Ovid must have said to himself, "I'd honey to show him a matter or two. But how? How?" Then he probably shouted, "I know: I'll write an ballsy of my own! But not simply any old ballsy—no, this will be a new kind of ballsy. It won't be one long, boring story, but a collection of many little stories. And it'll be funny, too. I'll call information technology… Fifteen Books of Metamorphoses!" And with these words, he stuck that putty on the soles of his sandals, and started bouncing his way upwards the epic heap.

What is The Metamorphoses About and Why Should I Care?

The peachy thing almost Ovid'due south Metamorphoses is that it doesn't force you to "intendance" about information technology 1 way or the other. Think of anything you like doing—it could be sports or music, playing videogames, or collecting stamps. Now imagine that someone asks you, "Hey, why do you like doing X so much?" Chances are you lot won't have much of an respond for them—at least nothing amend than "Uhh, I like to, that'southward why." Ovid'southward verse form is like that. Its wild stories well-nigh transformations from 1 shape to another are so fun that your starting time reaction in reading information technology probably won't be to ask yourself weighty questions similar "Hmm, I wonder what insights this ancient volume offers into the structure of the cosmos, or the essence of existence, or the development of the human imagination?" Information technology just so happens that Ovid'south poem offers insights into all of these things—but you tin can remember of the deeper levels equally an added bonus.

Basically, the poem'south respond lies in its key themes of Change, Transformations and Metamorphosis. For Ovid, the physical world is constantly changing, and then is human life (through birth and death, love, hatred, achievement, and failure). Most of import, however, is Ovid's portrayal of the human imagination—not so much considering of anything he says about information technology, but because of how he puts it into action. You lot'd exist difficult-pressed to find many other authors, ancient or modern, who are so bursting with ideas near how to tell a story. (Shakespeare is another.)

Because of Ovid'south amazing skill as a poet, his versions of countless Greek and Roman myths have become the inspiration for generations of after artists in every medium. (But bank check out our "All-time of the Web" section, if you don't believe us.) What's ironic about this is that Ovid's treatment of these myths is annihilation but reverent; half the fourth dimension you lot get the sense that he is playing around with the stories he inherited, or perhaps making up new stories as he goes forth.

As a consequence, Ovid is actually Western literature's bang-up practical joker—the guy who tore all the pages out of an quondam encyclopedia and replaced them with entries written by himself. He may exist pulling your leg, only at least you'll be in good company.

The Metamorphoses Resources

Websites

Theoi Greek Mythology
This website is equally adept every bit it gets for information on Greek and Roman gods and heroes online. Even though (as the name suggests) this is mainly geared toward Greek mythology, it will yet give you essential groundwork info for Ovid; plus, it tells you lot the Roman names of about of the characters it talks near it.

Ovid on Project Gutenberg
This website will give you links to translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as some of his other works.

Movie or TV Productions

Jason and the Argonauts, 1963
This classic from special-furnishings wizard Ray Harryhausen takes a few liberties with the original story, only it sure is a lot of fun.

Disharmonism of the Titans, 1981
Another Harryhausen masterpiece, this moving picture tells the story of Perseus.

Historical Documents

Medieval Translation of Ovid into English
This image documents role of Ovid'due south reception into English literature. It is a folio from a printed (as opposed to manuscript) translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses into English language. Tin you lot make out what story this is from?

English Renaissance Printing of the Metamorphoses in Latin
The passage seen in this image comes from the very beginning of Book 1.

Video

Blithe Movie of Orpheus and Eurydice
Brought to yous by folks at UC Berkeley. Enjoy!

Sound

Half-dozen Metamorphoses after Ovid by Benjamin Britten
The twentieth century English composer Benjamin Britten wrote a series of 6 "metamorphoses" for the solo oboe, based on Ovid'southward works. You can hear (and see) this piece being performed here.

Images

Illustrations of Ovid in the Renaissance
This website, although a bit confusing to navigate, contains many interesting links to Renaissance illustrations of Ovid'due south works. What y'all do is scroll downwardly until you can see, typically to the left of any given piece of text, little blue boxes with colors inside. Click on these. Then a new window should popular up with links to all of the illustrations in a particular renaissance edition of Ovid. Information technology sounds trickier than it is; simply monkey around a bit and you'll get the hang of it. Information technology's pretty crawly once you do.

Actaeon and Diana
The hapless hunter Actaeon catches Diana and her nymphs in the nude – bad news for him! This imagining of the myth is past the Italian renaissance painter Titian.

The Rape of Europa
This unusual painting past the twentieth century Russian painter Valentin Serov depicts the moment when Jupiter, disguised every bit a bull, carries Europa away with him over the ocean. Check out Serov's depiction of the bull's lustful backwards glance at his prey, an apt delineation of Jupiter's sleazy wiliness – or is it wily sleaziness?

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
This painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525 -1569), who lived in the Netherlands, depicts the death of Icarus from Book 8 of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The details – a fisherman, a shepherd leaning on his staff, and a peasant plowing – are all taken from Ovid'due south account. But do you notice any difference between how they are depicted in the poem and in Brueghel's picture? What practice you think most the fact that Icarus takes up such a small corporeality of the painting's total area? For some famous thoughts on this issue, cheque out the poem "Musée des Beaux-Arts" by the English poet W. H. Auden, which we've got linked in our "Trivia" section.

Orpheus in the Underworld
In this image, the Flemish (i.e., from modernistic Kingdom of the netherlands) renaissance painter Jan Brueghel the Elder depicts Orpheus making his style through the Underworld to rescue his dear married woman Eurydice. Didn't plow out so well. Clearly, the painter has used the story as an excuse to pack in lots of wacky images appropriate to the land of the expressionless.

Jupiter and Io
This (literally) steamy prototype shows Jupiter with Io, before, you know, he turned her into a cow. I interesting thing well-nigh this image is the mode it transforms (metamorphoses, you might say) Ovid's original story to make it more dramatic. Ovid, in Volume 1, just tells us that Jupiter whipped upwards a deject to hide what he was doing with Io. Correggio, however, clearly thought information technology would exist much more dramatic if Jupiter actually turned himself into a cloud; this gave him an excuse to paint the god as a weird, ethereal cloud being. Nosotros requite Correggio props for improving on Ovid hither. What do you lot think?

Narcissus
Oh, narcissistic Narcissus, always staring at your ain reflection. This image is by the famous Italian renaissance painter Carravaggio.

The Abduction of Proserpine
This chilling epitome past the Flemish renaissance painter Rembrandt shows the moment when Pluto, the god of the Underworld, carries of Proserpine, daughter of Ceres, to be his helpmate.

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Source: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/metamorphoses

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