For a quick vision of the whole poem, courtesy of Ms. Shawna
Thorp of the Auburn English Department, scroll down past the table.
English 2207
English 2200
Book One
Creation--Ages of Humankind--Flood--Deucalion and Pyrrha--Apollo and
Daphne--Io--Phaethon
Book Two
Phaethon--Callisto--Raven and Crow--Ocyrhoe--Mercury and Battus--Envy
of Aglauros--Jupiter and Europa
Book Three
Cadmus--Diana and Actaeon--Semele and Birth of Bacchus--Tiresias--Narcissus
and Echo--Pentheus and Bacchus
Book Four
Daughters of Minyas--Pyramus and Thisbe--Sun in Love--Salmacis and
Hermaphroditus--Daughters of Minyas Transformed--Athamas and Ino--Transformation
of Cadmus and Harmonia--Perseus and Andromeda
Book Five
Perseus in Palace of Cepheus--Minerva and the Muses--Rape of Proserpine--Arethusa--Triptolemus
Book Six
Arachne--Niobe--Lycian Peasants--Marsyas--Pelops--Tereus, Procne, Philomela--Boreas
and Orithyia
Book Seven
Medea and Jason--Medea and Aeson--Medea and Pelias--Theseus--Minos,
Aeacus, Plague, Myrmidons--Cephalus and Procris
Book Eight
Scylla and Minos--Minotaur--Daedalus and Icarus--Perdix--Meleager and
the Calydonian Boar--Althaea and Meleager--Achelous and Nymphs--Philemon
and Baucis--Erysichthon and his Daughter
Book Nine
Achelous and Hercules--Hercules, Nessus, Deianira--Death and Apotheosis
of Hercules--Birth of Hercules--Dryope--Iolaus and Sons of Callirhoe--Byblis--Iphis
and Ianthe
Book Ten
Orpheus and Eurydice--Cyparissus--Ganymede--Hyacinth--Pygmalion--Myrrha--Venus
and Adonis--Atalanta
.
Book Eleven
Death of Orpheus--Midas--Troy Founded, Troy Destroyed--Peleus and Thetis--Daedalion--Cattle
of Peleus--Ceyx and Alcyone--Aesacus
.
Book Twelve
Expedition against Troy--Achilles and Cycnus--Caenis--Battle of Lapiths
and Centaurs--Nestor and Hercules--Death of Achilles
.
Book Thirteen
Ajax, Ulysses and the Arms of Achilles--Fall of Troy--Hecuba, Polyxena,
Polydorus--Memnon--Pilgrimage of Aeneas--Acis and Galatea--Scylla and
Glaucus
.
Book Fourteen
Scylla and Glaucus--Pilgrimage of Aeneas--Island of Circe--Picus and
Canens--Triumph and Apotheosis of Aeneas--Pomona and Vertumnus--Legends
of Rome--Apotheosis of Romulus
.
Book Fifteen
Numa and Foundation of Croton--Doctrines of Pythagoras--Death of Numa--Hippolytus--Cipus--Aesculapius--Apotheosis
of Julius Caesar--Epilogue
Summary
The collection of stories which comprise Ovid's Metamorphoses offer
an encylopedic array of Greek, Roman, and local legends. Arranged around
the concept of change, this narrative poem explores the nature of divinity and
humanity alike, as well as interaction between the two. In 15 separate
books which include over seventy individual stories, this poem covers history
from the creation of the world to the Roman empire at the beginning of the common
era. Through the use of these loosely connected stories which are retold
in vivid and compelling detail, Ovid is able to cover this extensive time period
without relying upon generalizations or summary explanations. Instead,
the Metamorphoses offer a series of individually compelling stories which
combine to show the continuity inherent in change.
To point out that Ovid's Metamorphoses is about change is to point
out the painfully obvious. The poem is filled with examples of Gods changing
forms at will, humans changing form as reward or punishment, and the changes
of form brought on by death. What is less obvious is that these changes are
not important because they are changes per se, but rather because through these
changes Ovid is able to illustrate a principle of continuity which overrides
the changes of form. Through the series of stories which comprise the Metamorphoses,
Ovid proves that life is actually infinite; while the form which defines a given
soul's essence may change, that essence itself does not cease to exist.
To understand this concept it is first
important to recognize the signifigance of the two stories which frame this
narrative poem. The creation story which comprises the first story after the
invocation defines the importance of form. Before the world was created, all
was chaos, and "All objects were at odds, since in one mass/ Cold essence fought
with hot, and moist with dry,/ And hard with soft and light with things of weight"
(1). The unspecified god who separates things according to their essence is
responsible for giving form to the world; without this form the essences of
things would be indistinguishable from one another, as with the stars, which
are only made visible through this process of division and definition: "Scarce
had he thus all things in finite bounds/ Divided when the stars, in darkness
blind/ Long buried, over all the spangled sky/ Began to gleam" (3). The existence
of form is indispensable to an intelligible world; without it there can be no
recognition of identity.
The doctrines of Pythagoras, which dominate
last book of the poem, serve as the second half of the frame which defines this
narrative. Central to these doctrines is the concept of the transmigration of
the souls. Ovid, through the screen of Pythagoras, argues that while forms change
(people die, seasons change, etc.) the essential essence remains the same. "Our
souls" he argues "are deathless; when they leave their former home,/ Always
new habitations welcome them, To live afresh" (356). It does not matter, he
continues, what form our souls choose to take, human or animal, the essence
remains the same. By extension, then, the form is only important as a receptacle
for the soul; though the use of forms the essence of the soul, like the stars,
becomes distinguishable, but the specific form does not change the essence of
that which inhabits it.
This is illustrated countless times throughout
this long narrative; examination of a few such examples is productive here.
While fleeing from Apollo, Daphne is turned into a laurel tree, but she does
not loose her "shining loveliness" (17). It is even easier to see the continuity
of the essence of the soul in Arachne's fate; an accomplished weaver, she is
turned into a spider by the jealous Pallas, but her talent remains. In fact,
Ovid makes it clear with almost every transformation story that while the shape
of the person has changed, the identity has not. These examples are useful
for understanding the rather abstract concept that the essence of the soul remains
the same, despite changes in form; however, the"fact" of this continuity exists
even where the explicit connection between one form and the next is not developed
or obvious.
The two episodes which frame this poem bring
forward and explicitly link two seemingly oppositional concepts: change and
continuity. This theme is explored in great detail through the myriad stories
which intervene. Because the soul itself never dies, merely changing form
instead, this narrative poem is actually a celebration of the continuity which
transcends the life of individual forms, rather than strictly an exploration
of change.
