Reflection Of Ovids Metamorphoss - 1330 Words

Ovids Metamorphoses is regarded as a masterpiece among the great classical Latin poems. Unlike Virgils Aeneid, which preceded it by twenty-one years, it is elusive and ironic, mythic rather than historical, and, as its name suggests, continually shifting its shape. Rather than chronicling and celebrating the monumentality of Rome and the grandeur of its emperor, Ovid here examines and reflects upon the passions and inner strengths and weaknesses of individuals. The Metamorphoses is a collection of tales rather than one complex story or set of adventures. Many scholars argue that it is unified by the recurring themes which weave in and out of the individual tales, by the presence of the poet narrator who speaks throughout the poem in a†¦show more content†¦Ovid himself characterized his faults as â€Å"a poem,† (probably Ars Amatoria) and â€Å"an indiscretion.† The â€Å"indiscretion† has not been identified, but scholars believe it was related to his fr iendship with Augustuss daughter and granddaughter, both named Julia, who openly defied the emperors policy of austere sexual morality. In the Tristia, a collection of poems he wrote in exile, Ovid reports that his despair was so great that he threw the manuscript of the Metamorphoses into the fire upon learning of his punishment. It was not the only copy of the poem, however, as the Metamorphoses was well known throughout the Middle Ages. In fact, the fourteenth century has been called the â€Å"age of Ovid† because of the widespread inclusion of his work in school curricula, and because of the familiarity with his works shown in the poetry of John Gower, Dante, and Chaucer. Ernst Robert Curtius has argued in European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages that the Metamorphoses permeated Medieval culture and literature. Often, as in the French Ovid Moralisà ©, the tales were allegorized and sanitized with appended moral tags, making erotically exciting myths appear to be cau tionary tales along the lines of Aesops fables. William Caxton, the printer, first translated parts of the Metamorphoses into English in 1480. In 1567, Arthur Golding issued the first complete English version. The poem was immensely popular and went through six printings during Shakespeares lifetime. The