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sandbox of HEATHER COOK


Proposed edits to Wikipedia's Metamorphoses article for Your Class[edit]

I propose to add to the section regarding Themes in Metamorphoses. Currently only 1 theme is listed but I believe I can add at least 5 more themes.


Reading List[edit]

A numbered list of all your readings go here. Use the following format

  1. Mack, Sarah. (1988). Ovid.[1]
  2. Brown, Larry A. (2015). Ovid's Metamorphoses[2].
  3. http://www.gradesaver.com/metamorphoses/study-guide/themes
  4. Johnston, I. (2015). The Influence of Ovid's Metamorphoses[3].
  5. Hacht, A. (2005). Poetry for Students.[4]
  6. Luce, T. (1982). Ancient Writers.[5]
  7. (Puchner, n.d.) The Norton Anthology of World Literature[6]
  8. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Pygmalion_and_Galatea[7]


Revised paragraph from Metamorphoses[edit]

Original[edit]

The Metamorphoses has exerted a considerable influence on literature and the arts, particularly of the West; scholar A. D. Melville says that "It may be doubted whether any poem has had so great an influence on the literature and art of Western civilization as the Metamorphoses."[31] Although a majority of its stories do not originate with Ovid himself, but with such writers as Hesiod and Homer, for others the poem is their sole source.[25]

Revised[edit]

The Metamorphoses has exerted a considerable influence on literature and the arts, particularly of the West; scholar A. D. Melville says that "It may be doubted whether any poem has had so great an influence on the literature and art of Western civilization as the Metamorphoses."[31] Although a majority of its stories do not originate with Ovid himself, but with such writers as Hesiod and Homer, for others the poem is their sole source.[25] Sarah Mack states that "it would be impossible to overestimate Ovid's impact on writers..." Writers such as Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Tasso, Goethe, Rilke, Ronsard, Corneille, Racine, Valery, Camoes, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderon-"all owe him something."[1] "The reason for this influence is partly to be found in its brilliant artistic surface, but essentially the complex vision of the nature of human life in the poem and its profound sense of human personality and human freedom account for its singular attraction for the poets and artists of Europe."[5] In virtually every era since Ovid's death there have been writers, artists, musicians, and performers inspired and influenced by the Metamorphoses.[4]

Original Contribution[edit]

3.2 Lust

Lust is another reoccurring theme found within the stories of the Metamorphoses. Ovid uses lust as a vehicle for the central theme of change and transformation. Lust is a driving force that even the gods are not immune from. In Books 1 and 2 there are five stories of virgins being pursued by gods: Apollo and Daphne, Jupiter and Io, Pan and Syrinx, Jupiter and Callisto, and Jupiter and Europa. [2] The passion experienced by the gods is illustrated in the example of Apollo who was engulfed by his lust and "... went up in flames until his heart was utterly afire,..." (line 1.683) [6]

Just as the gods succumb to lust, the mortals also fall victim. In Book 10 Pygmalion abhorred women because he felt they "...lived lives of sordid indecency...[6]" Pygmalion creates a ivory statue in the form of his ideal woman. In line 10.253[7] it states "He wonders at her and drinks in passionate fires for his heart for created art." His passion and lust for the statue is complete and he treats her as a real woman. "He gives it kisses and he thinks kisses are returned."(line 10.256[7]) Pygmalion's obsession with his "ivory maiden"[7] is known to Venus and she transfigures the sculpture into a real woman.

Another story of lust found in Book 10 is that of Myrrha who suffers incestual feelings for her father. Burdened by her unnatural desires, Myrrha feels that death will be her only release from the "fires of passion[6]" (line 10.453) that consume her. However, Myrrha's old nurse helps her deceive her father, but when he "discovered his crime and his daughter"[6](line 10.569), Myrrha flees to Arabia. "She then offers up, from the depths of her anguish and contrition, a prayer to the gods."[5] In answer to her prayer, she is transfigured into a myrrh tree.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Mack, Sarah (1988). Ovid. Binghamton, New York: Hermes Books. p. 1. ISBN 0-300-04294-9.
  2. ^ a b "Ovid's Metamorphoses". larryavisbrown.homestead.com. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  3. ^ "Silver". uts.cc.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  4. ^ a b Hacht, Anne Marie (2005). Poetry for Students, Volume 22. Detroit, Michigan: Thomson Gale. pp. 88–105. ISBN 0-7876-6961-x. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  5. ^ a b c Luce, T. (1982). Ancient Writers Volume 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 783–788, 797–802. ISBN 0-684-16595-3.
  6. ^ a b c d e Puchner, n d. (2013). The Norton Anthology of World Literature Volume 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 650–675. ISBN 978-0-393-91960-8.
  7. ^ a b c d "Pygmalion and Galatea - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2015-10-19.

This code lists and numbers all your references at the bottom of your sandbox page.)

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