{"title":"4. Metamorphoses","authors":"Llewelyn Morgan","doi":"10.1093/actrade/9780198837688.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780198837688.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"'Metamorphoses; focuses on the Metamorphoses, widely considered Ovid’s masterpiece. The Metamorphoses is a collection of transformation stories, but the principle of change characterizes every layer of the poem. The Metamorphoses is Ovid’s only epic poem, thus in form a departure from the elegiac tradition he otherwise champions. But Ovid’s epic is devoted to destabilizing the order and certainties that conventional epic, such as Virgil’s Aeneid, was designed to uphold, and metamorphosis as a theme is well adapted to advance that end. The metamorphic character of the Metamorphoses is not restricted to explicit descriptions of shape-shifting, but affects its narrative form, even its generation of meaning. The Metamorphoses is thus Ovid’s most ambitious exploration of the nature of poetry, an astonishingly sophisticated performance, but it is better known as a collection of brilliantly memorable tales, Midas’ golden touch, Narcissus, Icarus, Pygmalion, a tour de force in storytelling. The poem has in fact served as the authoritative encyclopaedia of Graeco-Roman folklore. The freshness and vibrancy of Ovid's storytelling has a lot to do with the irreverent and self-conscious approach he adopts to writing an epic poem.","PeriodicalId":222043,"journal":{"name":"Ovid: A Very Short Introduction","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130964378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}