Participation
Come to class, Be Prepared,
Contribute to class discussion
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this course is to wallow in the
wit and wonder of the Metamorphoses, to
examine Ovid's style, his times, his place in the
epic tradition and his lasting influence on
Western Civilization.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Anderson, Ovid's Metamorphoses: Books 1-5
(University of Oklahoma Press; 1998)
Presentations
2 scheduled:
Sandys 1640ed. Illustrations,
Research Paper.
Quiz(es)
Monday, February 9th Quiz over entire
Metamorphoses, Identification of stories from
quotes and illustrations. Essay.
Anderson, Ovid's Metamorphoses: Books 6-10
(University of Oklahoma Press; 1999)
Humphries, Ovid Metamorphoses
(Indiana University Press; 1955)
GRADING:
Participation
Presentations
Quiz(es)
Exam
Paper
Final Exam
15%
10%
15%
20%
20%
20%
v Only one Quiz scheduled, but reserve the option
for additional quizzes if necessary
Exam
Monday March 15th
Translation, Parsing, Metrics, Short Essay
Paper:
Research paper on selected topic due May 3rd.
An initial abstract with working bibliography is
due March 29th.
Final Exam
Wednesday, May 12th.
Translation, Parsing,
Metrics, Essay
Vita
43BC
c.29BC
Born March 20, in Sulmo
Studies law at Rome with rhetoricians
Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro.
Frequents poetry recitals by Vergil,
Horace, Tibullus, Propertius
On track for a career in the Senate
(tresviri monetales/capitales, decemuiri stlitibus iudicandis)
Participates in literary circle of Messalla
(Propertius)
22-21BC Publishes Amores
15BC
Publishes Heroides
12-7BC
Publishes Amores 2nd edition
2BC-AD2 Publishes Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris
AD2
Fasti, Metamorphoses in progress
AD8
Relegated to Tomis (carmen et error)
AD9-12
Ibis, Tristia
AD13
Epistulae ex Ponto
AD17/18 Dies in exile
25BC
carmen et error
Though two crimes, a song and mistake, have destroyed me,
on the cause of the one deed I have to remain silent
for I am not worthy of reopening your wounds, Caesar,
It is more than enough that you have been pained once.
The other charge remains: I am accused of becoming
by a shameful song a teacher of obscene adultery.
Tristia 2.207
•
Was the carmen his Ars Amatoria ?
"Why did I see anything? Why did I make my eyes guilty?
Why did I recklessly learn of a sin?"
Tristia 2.103-104
Metamorphoses: nachleben
ü
= Negative comments in 1st c. writers:
Seneca the Elder
(licentiam carminum), Aemilius Scaurus (Ovidius nescit quod bene cessit
relinquere), Quintillian lascivia
ü
= Influenced Neronian authors: Seneca the Younger, Lucan
ü
ü
(sententiae, analysis of psychological dilemmas, fearsome allegorical
figures,
eye for the grotesque, thematic emphasis on reversed values)
ü
ü
= Graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum attest to his popularity
= Popularity continues throughout antiquity.
Metamorphoses: nachleben
ü
ü
ü
= Medieval rediscovery of poetry: 12th c. described as aetas
Ovidiana
numbers of Ovid mss rival the Bible; (400 before the time printing began)
poets in Italy, Spain & France lived and breathed Ovid
ü
= In England Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare (to name but a few)
ü
= Painter’s Bible from 15th c. on
knew and used Ovid’s Metamorphoses
ü
Titian, Rape of Europa
1559-62
Gardner Museum
Boston, MA, US
Metamorphoses: nachleben
= 19th c. Romanticism did not value the wit and playfulness of Ovid
= 20th c. academic tastes formed by 19th c.
= Resurgence of interest in Ovid at the end of the 20thc
L.P. Wilkinson, Ovid Recalled (1955)
Number of scholarly works has increased dramatically in the last two decades
Ovid the subject of several works of fiction.
Ransmayr,The Last World (1990)
Malouf, An Imaginary Life (1996)
After Ovid , collection of poetic renditions of Ovid (1996)
Tales from Ovid , Ted Hughes, England’s late Poet Laureate (1999)
Ovid Metamorphosed, collection of fiction with Ovid as the starting points (2001)
Alison, The Love Artist (2002)
Metamorphoses
• Epic
dactylic hexameter
• mutatas formas
• carmen perpetuum
epyllion
• ab origine mundi ad
mea tempora
Thirteenth-century codex
(bound manuscript volume)
of Ovid's Metamorphoses
Brooks Otis, Ovid as a Epic Poet (1966,1970)
Structural Approach
•
Divine Comedy
Books I-II

Avenging Gods
Books III-VI.400
•
Pathos of Love
Books VI.401-XI
•
Troy to Rome
Books XII-XV