Transcript Metamorphoses
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) Anderson, Ovid's Metamorphoses: Books 6-10 (University of Oklahoma Press; 1999) Humphries, Ovid Metamorphoses (Indiana University Press; 1955) Quiz(es) Presentations 2 scheduled: Sandys 1640ed. Illustrations, Research Paper.
Monday, February 9th Quiz over entire Metamorphoses, Identification of stories from quotes and illustrations. Essay.
v Only one Quiz scheduled, but reserve the option for additional quizzes if necessary
GRADING:
Participation 15% Presentations Quiz(es) 15% Exam 10% 20% Paper Final Exam 20% 20% 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
25BC 22-21BC 15BC 12-7BC 2BC-AD2 AD2 AD8 AD9-12 AD13 AD17/18 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) Publishes Amores Publishes Heroides Publishes Amores 2nd edition Publishes Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris Fasti, Metamorphoses in progress Relegated to Tomis (
carmen et error
)
Ibis, Tristia Epistulae ex Ponto
Dies in exile
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 ü ü ü ü ü = Negative comments in 1st c. writers: Seneca the Elder (
licentiam carminum
), Aemilius Scaurus (
Ovidius nescit quod bene cessit relinquere
), Quintillian
lascivia
= Influenced Neronian authors: Seneca the Younger, Lucan
(sententiae, analysis of psychological dilemmas, fearsome allegorical figures, eye for the grotesque, thematic emphasis on reversed values)
= Graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum attest to his popularity = Popularity continues throughout antiquity.
Metamorphoses
: nachleben
ü ü ü 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
= In England Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare (to name but a few) knew and used Ovid’s Metamorphoses = Painter’s Bible from 15th c. on 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 Structural Approach
(1966,1970)
•