The different genres and divisions in the narrative allow the "Metamorphoses" to display a wide range of themes. Scholar Stephen M. Wheeler notes that "metamorphosis, mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power are just some of the unifying themes that critics have proposed over the years".
Themes
Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses | Themes
Mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power are just some of the unifying themes. Metamorphosis, mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power Scholar Stephen M. Wheeler notes that "metamorphosis, mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power are just some of the unifying themes that critics have proposed over the years". According to scholar Stephen M. Wheeler, "metamorphosis, mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power are just some of the unifying themes that critics have proposed over the years".
how old was william shakespeare when he wrote hamlet
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Between 1589 and 1613 at the age of 49.
assistant
who is he?
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He was an English playwright, poet, and actor.
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name a few of his poems?
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"Venus and Adonis", "The Rape of Lucrece", "Metamorphoses", "A Lover's Complaint".
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what is the third poem about?
user
It is the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework.
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what are its themes?
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The Metamorphoses (: "Books of Transformations") is an 8 AD Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his "magnum opus". Comprising 11,995 lines, 15 books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Although meeting the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple genre classification by its use of varying themes and tones. Ovid took inspiration from the genre of metamorphosis poetry, and some of the "Metamorphoses" derives from earlier treatment of the same myths; however, he diverged significantly from all of his models.
Metamorphoses | Introduction
However, the poem "handles the themes and employs the tone of virtually every species of literature", ranging from epic and elegy to tragedy and pastoral. Commenting on the genre debate, G. Karl Galinsky has opined that "... it would be misguided to pin the label of any genre on the "Metamorphoses"." The "Metamorphoses" is comprehensive in its chronology, recounting the creation of the world to the death of Julius Caesar, which had occurred only a year before Ovid's birth; it has been compared to works of universal history, which became important in the 1st century BC. In spite of its apparently unbroken chronology, scholar Brooks Otis has identified four divisions in the narrative:
Metamorphoses | Contents
Metamorphosis or transformation is a unifying theme amongst the episodes of the "Metamorphoses". Ovid raises its significance explicitly in the opening lines of the poem: "In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas / corpora;" ("I intend to speak of forms changed into new entities;"). Accompanying this theme is often violence, inflicted upon a victim whose transformation becomes part of the natural landscape. This theme amalgamates the much-explored opposition between the hunter and the hunted and the thematic tension between art and nature. There is a great variety among the types of transformations that take place: from human to inanimate object (Nileus), constellation (Ariadne's Crown), animal (Perdix); from animal (Ants) and fungus (Mushrooms) to human; of sex (Hyenas); and of colour (Pebbles).
Metamorphoses | Metamorphosis
Literary works from the 0s include works from the ancient Roman poet Ovid; the "Ars Amatoria", an instructional elegy series in three books, "Metamorphoses," a poem which chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework, and "Ibis," a curse poem written during his years in exile across the Black Sea for an offense against Augustus. Nicolaus of Damascus wrote the 15-volume "History of the World".
0s | Introduction
This theme is most clearly illustrated in Aeschylus' great trilogy the Oresteia and in Sophocles' trilogy on Oedipus. As in Hecuba's speech, characters from the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles both lament their great losses and what has led them to this point. One of the best examples of this theme that Ovid so clearly draws upon is the speech given by a messenger in Oedipus Rex that tells of the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus. This famous speech follows in the same theme of that given by Hecuba, previous actions and the fates that lead characters to destruction and death.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Hecuba
Hecuba's lame over her daughters dead body also recalls back to the small speech given by Thisbe in Book IV. Though Thisbe is not given a full monologue, she makes use of the lines she is given to lament over the death of her love Pyramus. Hecuba draws on the tragic themes presented in Thisbe's lamentation and expands upon them, expressing the death of a daughter instead of a lover. Hecuba's speech opens with her asking the gods what else she could possibly lose, after having her family slaughtered, her city sacked, and herself taken as a prisoner. This theme of all being lost to war and death is a common one throughout the world of ancient tragedy.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Hecuba
The thirteenth book discusses the contest over Achilles' arms, and Polyphemus. The fourteenth moves to Italy, describing the journey of Aeneas, Pomona and Vertumnus, and Romulus. The final book opens with a philosophical lecture by Pythagoras and the deification of Caesar. The end of the poem praises Augustus and expresses Ovid's belief that his poem has earned him immortality. In analyzing the "Metamorphoses", scholars have focused on Ovid's organization of his vast body of material. The ways that stories are linked by geography, themes, or contrasts creates interesting effects and constantly forces the reader to evaluate the connections. Ovid also varies his tone and material from different literary genres; G.
Ovid | "Metamorphoses" ("Transformations")
Virgil begins his poem with a statement of his theme ("Arma virumque cano ...", "Of arms and the man I sing ...") and an invocation to the Muse, falling some seven lines after the poem's inception ("Musa, mihi causas memora ...", "O Muse, recount to me the causes ..."). He then explains the reason for the principal conflict in the story: the resentment held by the goddess Juno against the Trojan people. This is consistent with her role throughout the Homeric epics.
Aeneid | Theme
Metamorphoses (: "Books of Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his "magnum opus". Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Although meeting the criteria for an epic, the poem defies simple genre classification by its use of varying themes and tones. Considered one of the most influential works of art in Western culture, particularly European, "Metamorphoses" has inspired such authors as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio. Numerous episodes from the poem have been depicted in sculptures and paintings by artists such as Titian.
Cultural influence of Metamorphoses | Introduction
A third major theme is inconstancy, particularly as manifested in Proteus, whose very name hints at his changeable mind (in Ovid's "Metamorphoses", Proteus is a sea-god forever changing its shape). At the start of the play, Proteus has only eyes for Julia. However, upon meeting Silvia, he immediately falls in love with her (although he has no idea why). He then finds himself drawn to the page Sebastian (Julia in disguise) whilst still trying to woo Silvia, and at the end of the play, he announces that Silvia is no better than Julia and vows he now loves Julia again.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona | Inconstancy
The fourth book especially, dedicated to Venus, a goddess Julius Caesar claimed he was a descendant of emphasised heavily on Augustus' divine heritage once again solidifying his position as the rightful ruler of Rome.
Propaganda in Augustan Rome | Metamorphoses
Discovered, she flees to the wilderness, where the gods transform her into tears.
Metamorphoses (play) | Theme/Idea
366 lines. The theme of this poem encompasses the myriad objects of prayer unwisely sought from the gods: wealth, power, beauty, children, long life, et cetera. The narrator argues that each of these is a false Good; each desired thing is shown to be not good in itself, but only good so long as other factors do not intervene. This satire is the source of the well-known phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" (a healthy mind in a healthy body), which appears in the passage above. It is also the source of the phrase "panem et circenses" (bread and circuses) – the only remaining cares of a Roman populace which has given up its birthright of political freedom (10.81).
Satires (Juvenal) | Satire X: Wrong Desire is the Source of Suffering
The first book describes the formation of the world, the ages of man, the flood, the story of Daphne's rape by Apollo and Io's by Jupiter. The second book opens with Phaethon and continues describing the love of Jupiter with Callisto and Europa. The third book focuses on the mythology of Thebes with the stories of Cadmus, Actaeon, and Pentheus. The fourth book focuses on three pairs of lovers: Pyramus and Thisbe, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, and Perseus and Andromeda. The fifth book focuses on the song of the Muses, which describes the rape of Proserpina. The sixth book is a collection of stories about the rivalry between gods and mortals, beginning with Arachne and ending with Philomela.
Ovid | "Metamorphoses" ("Transformations")
The general theme, therefore, would seem to be that the false allure of the future is as dangerous and stupid as the false allure of the past.
Titus Alone | Themes and motifs
Published in 8 A.D. the "Metamorphoses" of Ovid has become one of the most influential poems by the Latin writers. The "Metamorphoses" showed that Ovid was more interested in questioning how the laws interfered with people's lives than in writing epic tales like Virgil's "Aeneid" and Homer's "Odyssey". The "Metamorphoses" is not narrated by Ovid, but rather by the characters inside the stories. The myth of Myrrha and Cinyras is sung by Orpheus in the tenth book of "Metamorphoses" after he has told the myth of Pygmalion and before he turns to the tale of Venus and Adonis. As the myth of Myrrha is also the longest tale sung by Orpheus (205 lines) and the only story that corresponds to his announced theme of girls punished for forbidden desire, it is considered the centerpiece of the song.
Myrrha | Ovid's version
Tragic themes are ever-present in the world of ancient epic. Ancient tragedians often focused on ideas such as mythology, love, passion and violence in their works and these are clearly reflected in epic, especially in Ovid's "Metamorphoses". Tragic themes do not simply refer to subject matter however and can also be used in reference to the format of the writing, such as utilizing dramatic monologues, or soliloquies, metatheatre, and emphasizing time and place.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Introduction
Time is a natural force from which none of us is immune. This theme pervades the sonnet; the speaker recognizes that time will strip the beloved of his beauty and by saying that implies that time will take his beloved from him. Eventually, time will consume everyone in death, and, whether one chooses to recognize it or not, he will not have any control over exactly when that consumption will take place. This theme translates to Julius Caesar as well. Caesar is unfazed by the soothsayer's proclamation in act one, and even though Calpurnia seems for a time to have succeeded in keeping Caesar home on the day of his eventual murder, he goes to Senate anyway.
Sonnet 65 | Connection to "The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar"
208 lines. The main themes of this poem are self-awareness and moderation. The poem explicitly mentions one apothegm γνῶθι σεαυτόν (know thyself) from the temple of Apollo at Delphi, while its theme calls to mind another μηδέν ἄγαν (nothing in excess). The subject, in this instance, is the role of food and the "cena" (formal dinner) in Roman society. The narrator contrasts the ruinous spending habits of gourmands with the moderation of a simple meal of home-grown foods in the manner of the mythical ancient Romans.
Satires (Juvenal) | Satire XI: Dinner and a Moral
This theme of metamorphosis was broader than just "Narcissus"; for instance see crocus, laurel and hyacinth.
Narcissus (plant) | Roman culture
This direct contrast between the Medea that ancient audiences would know and the one they are presented with here shows how Ovid is taking, not only themes from tragedy, but characters as well, and translating them into his own version.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Medea
The music of the first metamorphosis echoes the "free-spirited" character of its titular figure: it is unmeasured and includes frequent pauses. This contrasts with the second metamorphosis, a quick and rhythmic representation of the chariot ride of Phaeton, marked "vivace ritmico". The third is slower and is marked "piangendo", or "crying". The four-part fourth metamorphosis reflects the atmosphere of a drunken feast or festival. The fifth, marked "lento piacevole", is meant to convey the act of staring at a reflection in a pool. The work concludes with a "pleasant and meandering" representation of beauty and flow.
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid | Music
The overall structure of the piece is "a slow introduction, a quick central section, and a return to the initial slower tempo", which echoes the structure of "Death and Transfiguration". There are five basic thematic elements in "Metamorphosen". First, there are the opening chords. Second, there is the repetition of three short notes followed by a fourth long note. Third, there is the direct quote from bar 3 of the "Marcia Funebre" from Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. Fourth, there is a minor theme with triplets. Fifth, there is the lyrical theme "that becomes the source of much of the contrasting music in major, sunnier keys." The second theme does not stand on its own, but precedes the third and fourth themes.
Metamorphosen | Composition history
In Italy, the poem was an influence on Giovanni Boccaccio (the story of Pyramus and Thisbe appears in his poem "L'Amorosa Fiammetta") and Dante.
Metamorphoses | Influence
Metamorphoses is a themed work of poetry composed by Ovid. Metamorphoses may also refer to:
Metamorphoses (disambiguation) | Introduction
Prominent themes of the second book include agriculture as man's struggle against a hostile natural world, often described in violent terms, and the ages of Saturn and Jupiter. Like the first book, it begins with a poem addressing the divinities associated with the matters about to be discussed: viticulture, trees, and the olive. In the next hundred lines, Virgil treats forest and fruit trees. Their propagation and growth are described in detail, with a contrast drawn between methods that are natural and those that require human intervention. Three sections on grafting are of particular interest: presented as marvels of man's alteration of nature, many of the examples Virgil gives are unlikely or impossible.
Georgics | Book Two
At the fore, Bacchus' tutor, the paunchy, ugly, and leering drunk Silenus, rides an ass. The figures carefully cavort in order to hide most naked male genitals. The program refers to Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (VIII; lines 160-182) and the spirit alludes to contemporary images voiced, for example, in a trifling carnival song-poem written by Lorenzo de Medici in about 1475, that entreats:
The Loves of the Gods | "The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne"
Immediately upon the restoration of harmony, however, Marcus urges a return to the Rome of old, "O, let me teach you how to knit again/This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf" (5.3.69–70), an order which Lucius subsequently promises to restore; "May I govern so,/To Rome's harms and wipe away her woe" (5.3.146–147). Thus the play ends with a promise of restored order, not with the actual restoration itself.
Themes in Titus Andronicus | Breakdown of political order
He, too, has spent his life in repelling barbarism, but now his weariness, old age, and lack of mental agility in coming to terms with new problems, reflect the lack of real energy and capacity of Rome in dealing with the various crises that beset it in its declining years. His subscription to the unhistorical cruelty of making sacrifice of prisoners in the city streets is a symptom of the coarsening of Roman life and values. In the figure of Rome's "best champion," therefore, we see Shakespeare's initial exploration in microcosmic form of the painful and tragic collapse of a great civilization.
Themes in Titus Andronicus | Breakdown of political order
Ovid utilizes a variety of tragic themes throughout the "Metamorphoses". Some of these themes simply involve the subject matter, but some involve thematic and narrative devices. Both of these types are equally important to understanding how Ovid connects with and employs the idea of tragedy in his epic.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Themes
Hunt also reverses the idea that pleasures are fleeting and should be rejected to claim that pleasures are fleeting because they are rejected by the world. In terms of religion, Hunt returns to a mythological theme because, as he argues in "The Indicator" essay "Spirit of the Ancient Mythology", "Imagine Plutarch, a devout and yet a liberal believer, when he went to study theology and philosophy at Delphi: with what feelings must he have passed along the woody paths to the hill, approaching nearer every instant to the divinity, and not sure that a glance of light through the trees was not the lustre of the god himself going by! This is mere poetry to us, and very fine it is; but to him it was poetry, and religion, and beauty, and gravity, and hushing awe, and a path as from one world to another." This reality appears in the beginning of the poem with its emphasis on the temple to Venus.
Hero and Leander (1819 poem) | Themes
Other frequently recurring themes include: critiques of simony and greed in the church, that, with the advent of the monetary economy in the 12th century, rapidly became an important issue (CB 1–11, 39, 41–45); lamentations in the form of the planctus, for example about the ebb and flow of human fate (CB 14–18) or about death (CB 122–131); the hymnic celebration of the return of spring (CB 132, 135, 137, 138, 161 and others); pastourelles about the rape/seduction of shepherdesses by knights, students/clergymen (CB 79, 90, 157–158); and the description of love as military service (CB 60, 62, and 166), a topos known from Ovid's elegiac love poems.
Carmina Burana | Themes
Triple-turn'd whore! 'tis thou Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly; For when I am revenged upon my charm, I have done all. Bid them all fly; begone. [Exit SCARUS] O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more: Fortune and Antony part here; even here Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd, That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am: O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,— Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home; Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,— Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.
Antony and Cleopatra | Theme of ambivalence
Ovid's "Metamorphoses" was a continuous poem of fifteen books weaving together Greco-Roman mythology from the creation of the universe to the deification of Julius Caesar. Ovid's versions of Greek myths became one of the primary sources of later classical mythology, and his work was so influential in the Middle Ages that the 12th and 13th centuries have been called the "Age of Ovid." The principal Latin prose author of the Augustan age is the historian Livy, whose account of Rome's founding and early history became the most familiar version in modern-era literature. Vitruvius's book "De Architectura", the only complete work on architecture to survive from antiquity, also belongs to this period.
Roman Empire | Literature
The main themes of "Metamorphosen" are given here at the pitch they first occur. The first four themes occur in the first 20 bars. The fifth theme occurs at bar 82, with the tempo marking "etwas fließender" (slightly flowing). \relative c' {\clef "bass" 2^"Theme 1, opening chords" 4. 8 1} \relative c' {r^"Theme 2, Beethoven, Symphony No. 5" g'-.( g-. g-.)|g2}
Metamorphosen | Main themes
The three poems centered on Marathus constitute the longest poetic project in Roman literature having homosexual love as theme. The first of these poems, 1.4, begins with an imprecation of the poet to the god Priapus, asking for advice on how to win over beautiful boys. The god advises patience and that the man in love yield to the beloved boy's every whim and perform a series of services if the boy demands it (1.4.15–53). At first the narrator of the poem presents himself as someone who is simply asking for advice from the god on behalf of a friend who fell in love with a boy but whose wife forbids such affairs (1.4.73).
Tibullus | The Marathus cycle
The monologue given in Ovid's telling of the story is very similar in structure and content. In the "Metamorphoses", Hercules' speech is cut down to under thirty lines, but still details his labors and current condition. However, in contrast to his Sopholcean speech, this Hercules places the blame for his poisoning on Juno and laments about how unfair his current condition is, instead of blaming Deianira and offering up prayers to the gods.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Hercules
One of the extant fragments (fragment 590) appears to include the final lines of the play, given to the chorus. The chorus here remarks that humans cannot know what the future will bring; that is known only to Zeus. The sentiments expressed are similar to those in the final chorus of Sophocles' "Ajax" and Euripides' "Medea". The similarities to "Medea" also extend to the plot turning on a mother killing her child in order to take revenge on her husband.
Tereus (play) | Themes
This theme is also presented through the occupations of the three main characters: Israel's piano playing, Goldman's translations and Caesar's photography all require a prior model or text - they can only reflect reality, and never create anything original.
Past Continuous | Past vs. present
Although this last story is found in the "Homeric Hymn to Dionysus", also contained in the Divus volume, Pound draws on the version in Ovid's poem "Metamorphoses", thus introducing the world of ancient Rome into the poem.
The Cantos | I–XVI [1-16]
The successful outcome of Polyphemus' love was also alluded to in the course of a 1st-century BC love elegy on the power of music by the Latin poet Propertius. Listed among the examples he mentions is that "Even Galatea, it’s true, below wild Etna, wheeled her brine-wet horses, Polyphemus, to your songs." The division of contrary elements between the land-based monster and the sea nymph, lamented in Theocritus’ Idyll 11, is brought into harmony by this means. While Ovid’s treatment of the story that he introduced into the "Metamorphoses" is reliant on the idylls of Theocritus, it is complicated by the introduction of Acis, who has now become the focus of Galatea’s love.
Polyphemus | Latin poets
According to David Sedley of the "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy", "With these admiring words, Virgil neatly encapsulates four dominant themes of the poemuniversal causal explanation, leading to elimination of the threats the world seems to pose, a vindication of free will, and disproof of the soul's survival after death." Lucretius was almost certainly read by the imperial poet Marcus Manilius (fl. 1st century AD), whose didactic poem "Astronomica" (written c. AD 1020), alludes to "De rerum natura" in a number of places. However, Manilius's poem, espouses a Stoic, deterministic understanding of the universe, and by its very nature attacks the very philosophical underpinnings of Lucretius's worldview.
De rerum natura | Classical antiquity
Shakespeare's early erotic poem "Venus and Adonis" expands on the myth in Book X of the "Metamorphoses". In "Titus Andronicus", the story of Lavinia's rape is drawn from Tereus' rape of Philomela, and the text of the "Metamorphoses" is used within the play to enable Titus to interpret his daughter's story. Most of Prospero's renunciative speech in Act V of "The Tempest" is taken word-for-word from a speech by Medea in Book VII of the "Metamorphoses". Among other English writers for whom the "Metamorphoses" was an inspiration are John Milton—who made use of it in "Paradise Lost", considered his "magnum opus", and evidently knew it well—and Edmund Spenser.
Metamorphoses | Influence
In addition to the plays Julius Caesar and Macbeth, with often heavy irony Borges links his story to many predecessors. Among them are:
Theme of the Traitor and the Hero | Literary and philosophical references
The literary theme was explored still further in "Ars Poetica", published separately but written in the form of an epistle and sometimes referred to as "Epistles" 2.3 (possibly the last poem he ever wrote). He was also commissioned to write odes commemorating the victories of Drusus and Tiberius and one to be sung in a temple of Apollo for the Secular Games, a long-abandoned festival that Augustus revived in accordance with his policy of recreating ancient customs ("Carmen Saeculare").
Horace | Knight
The third song, "When That Head Splits", was inspired by the Salvador Dalí poem and painting "Metamorphosis of Narcissus" and the story of Narcissus saying that he was an exceptionally proud man, in that he disdained those who loved him. Nemesis saw this and attracted Narcissus to a pool where he saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it. Unable to embrace the watery image, he pined away, and the gods immortalized him as a Narcissus. The title of the song is a direct line from the poem, they wanted to use words from the poem to put in the song but, due to legal issues, they decided against it.
Wash the Sins Not Only the Face | Lyrics and themes
What, Eros, Eros! [Enter CLEOPATRA] Ah, thou spell! Avaunt! (IV.12.2913–2938) However, he then strangely says to Cleopatra: "All that is won and lost. Give me a kiss. Even this repays me"(3.12.69–70). Antony's speech conveys pain and anger, but he acts in opposition to his emotions and words, all for the love of Cleopatra. Literary critic Joyce Carol Oates explains: "Antony's agony is curiously muted for someone who has achieved and lost so much." This irony gap between word and deed of the characters results in a theme of ambivalence. Moreover, due to the flow of constant changing emotions throughout the play: "the characters do not know each other, nor can we know them, any more clearly than we know ourselves".
Antony and Cleopatra | Theme of ambivalence
Shaw wanted to prove that it was not love but politics that drew Cleopatra to Julius Caesar. He sees the Roman occupation of ancient Egypt as similar to the British occupation that was occurring during his time. Caesar understands the importance of good government, and values these things above art and love. Shaw's philosophy has often been compared to that of Nietzsche. Their shared admiration for men of action shows itself in Shaw's description of Caesar's struggle with Pompey. In the prologue, the god Ra says, "the blood and iron ye pin your faith on fell before the spirit of man; for the spirit of man is the will of the gods." A second theme, apparent both from the text of the play itself and from Shaw's lengthy notes after the play, is Shaw's belief that people have not been morally improved by civilization and technology.
Caesar and Cleopatra (play) | Themes
The repeated interruptions of the ceremonies suggest the fragility of that order while the mention of Titus' dead sons and the deaths of Alarbus and Mutius emphasise the terrible cost of maintaining it." The political order that so many characters yearn for and would die to protect is presented as far from stable. The demise of order is represented by Titus himself; the once proud general who stood for everything that was good and honourable in Rome, but is now a madman lying on the road and preaching to the dirt (3.1.23–47); Titus, noble, patriotic, but flawed by cruelty and an abysmal lack of political judgement, is a mirror of Rome in decline.
Themes in Titus Andronicus | Breakdown of political order
A line from the prologue clearly illustrates this point. The god Ra addresses the audience and says, "ye shall marvel, after your ignorant manner, that men twenty centuries ago were already just such as you, and spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no worse and no better, no wiser and no sillier."
Caesar and Cleopatra (play) | Themes
Victor Frankenstein marries his cousin Elizabeth. Shelley would return to the controversial incest theme in the 1819 play "The Cenci". Shelley uses the motif of "worms" as a poetic symbol or evocation of death in the work: "When he was in the church-yard lying/Among the worms. ... And the crawling worms were cradling her. ... [T]he dead ... Among their crawling worms."
Rosalind and Helen | Background
The work, which has its title from a passage in Plato's Timaeus, is born from the Mafonso for the human head. This and 'a central element in his poetry, a theme that the artist has here treated with a ternary representation modulated on three shaped profiles and almost engraved in steel,' 'drawing' 'at the same time light and obligations that arise from the rough metal material scraped and left in the vividness of its harshness'.
Dimore di tutto ciò che è divinissimo e santissimo | History
The first book opens with a prologue which contains a dedication (1–62) of the poem to Germanicus, Ovid's recusatio, and a description of the poem's theme as the Roman calendar, festivals, and annual astronomical events, followed by a discussion of Romulus' and Numa's invention of the Roman calendar. The first episode (63–294) is an interview between the poet and the god Janus about the details of his nature as primal creator (Chaos), history, iconography, and festival on the Kalends of January. The second long episode (317–456) describes the Agonalia, the aetiologies of sacrificial animals, the story of Aristaeus, and the story of Lotis and Priapus.
Fasti (poem) | January (Book 1)
In the poem, Statius follows Virgil closely as a model (in the epilogue he acknowledges his debt to Virgil), but he also refers to a wide range of sources in his handling of meter and episodes. The poem's theme is the myth of the Seven against Thebes, the story of the battle between the sons of Oedipus for the throne of Thebes. The poem opens (Book 1) with the disgraced Oedipus' curse on his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, who have decided to hold the throne of Thebes in alternate years, one ruling, the other in exile. Jupiter plans a war between Thebes and Argos, although Juno begs him not to incite it.
Statius | The "Thebaid"
I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's; I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox, I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus, In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous; I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies, I know the croaking chorus from "The Frogs" of Aristophanes! Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore, And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense "Pinafore".
Major-General's Song | Lyrics
The narrative includes themes of love, loss, and war. The Trojan War is an inspiration and a catalyst in a long line of epic poetry that came after Virgil.
Vergilius Vaticanus | Contents
A main theme in the book is social exclusion, heralded by the title, again with the residents of Under River, and Titus himself. One possible theme is ancients versus moderns, a theme that has existed since the time of Swift. Titus only wants Cheeta because she is a modern girl surrounded by dazzling technology, and her father is an innovative scientist who runs a mass-production factory, and he has spent all his life in a moldy, antiquated castle run by tradition. But after having a long affair with Cheeta, he seems to realise she is self-centered and cruel, and rejects her.
Titus Alone | Themes and motifs
This article presents an overview of four of the most prominent themes in the play.
Themes in Titus Andronicus | Introduction
The dramatic speech given by Hecuba in Book XIII of the "Metamorphoses" is the last full monologue of the epic. Both the first and last full monologues of this epic are delivered by women, which lends itself to analyzing the development of the female portrayal throughout the piece. Medea's speech, previously discussed, is rash and scattered, illustrating her emotional distress, while also showing the beginnings of the female oratory in the poem. In contrast, Hecuba's speech is polished and refined, showing not only the dignity of the fallen queen, even in her darkest times, but also emphasizing the growth of the portrayal of women throughout the epic.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Hecuba
According to Marian, who criticizes traditional scholarship and relies on insights from Constantin Noica, the core theme is "ontological dissatisfaction". The accent, she argues, falls on a genius' inability to "elevate" a world that only he understands to be flawed. Constantinescu suggests an intermediary position, discussing the "daimon"s "taming", his evolution toward a Platonic love "that surpasses everything erotic in Eminescu's poetry".
Luceafărul (poem) | Philosophy of love
Though the mythological characters themselves can be traced to various pre-Hellenistic sources, such as book 9 of the Odyssey, the comprehensive artistic representation of the fabled lovers’ tryst, the rejection and consequent dejection of Polyphemus and the subsequent murder of Acis was realized much later in "Ovid"’s Metamorphoses. Nevertheless, Ovid was not the first poet to exploit the poetic potential of these mythical figures. Though his influence on this poem is less direct, the founder of the bucolic or pastoral genre, Theocritus, wrote a burlesque poem representing Polyphemus and his unrequited love for the Sea-nymph Galatea. The pastoral genre was subject to later imitation by other prominent figures of antiquity, as seen in Virgil’s Eclogues, as well as by prominent figures of the Italian and Spanish Renaissance, such as Petrarch and Garcilaso de la Vega.
La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea | Background, the classical precursors of the "Polifemo" and poetic innovation
The exact date of the theme's establishment is unknown. Along with the other original themes, it was created sometime after the 640s as a military encampment area for the remnants of the old field armies of the East Roman army, which were withdrawn to Asia Minor in the face of the Muslim conquests. The Anatolic Theme was settled and took its name from the army of the East (Greek: , "Anatolē"). The theme is attested for the first time in 669, while the army itself is mentioned, as the "exercitus Orientalis", as late as an "iussio" of Justinian II in 687.
Anatolic Theme | History
Aphroditus was an androgynous Aphrodite from Cyprus, in later mythology became known as Hermaphroditus the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. Thamyris, the Thracian singer who developed love for Hyacinth is said to have been the first man to fall in love with another man. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses", the characters Iphis and Caeneus change sex.
LGBT themes in mythology | Greek and Roman
A third title, "Iter" ("The Journey"), dates from 46 BC, composed during a 24-day trip from Rome to Spain during the civil war. This verse travelogue may have been modeled after Lucilius's poem about a trip to Sicily. Caesar's choice of writing as a pastime in prelude to the decisive and brutal Battle of Munda illustrates the dual preoccupations of the Late Republican aristocrat, with militarism and political power-plays balanced by elite intellectual and aesthetic aspirations.
Poems by Julius Caesar | Introduction
The "Metamorphoses", Ovid's most ambitious and well-known work, consists of a 15-book catalogue written in dactylic hexameter about transformations in Greek and Roman mythology set within a loose mytho-historical framework. The word "metamorphoses" is of Greek origin and means "transformations". Appropriately, the characters in this work undergo many different transformations. Within an extent of nearly 12,000 verses, almost 250 different myths are mentioned. Each myth is set outdoors where the mortals are often vulnerable to external influences. The poem stands in the tradition of mythological and aetiological catalogue poetry such as Hesiod's "Catalogue of Women", Callimachus' "Aetia", Nicander's "Heteroeumena", and Parthenius' "Metamorphoses".
Ovid | "Metamorphoses" ("Transformations")
The exploration of the mysteries of India also is an important theme of the work, one that was surely impressive to the medieval public (akin to important scientific breakthroughs nowadays, for example). Not only brave and generous, our hero is also cunning and curious, wanting to understand the various phenomena that he will encounter on his path. The desire to conquer land and castles is thus reactivated by the desire to conquer the realm of knowledge (the voyage in the sky and underwater), but also the realm of immortality, as is shown by the will of the hero to equal mythic characters such as Hercules and Dionysus who became demi-gods after defeating their mortal conditions by various feat of strength and wisdom.
Roman d'Alexandre | Analysis
He uses the myth of Laodamia and Protesilaus to transition from themes of love and loyalty to grief over his brother's death. Arthur Wheeler describes Catullus' thematic progression in the poem: "He works through the friendship to the love and so to the sorrow and then back again in reverse order: sorrow, love, friendship. The structure may be represented by the letters A B C B A, and the parts also of each main theme are arranged with equal symmetry…To me it appears to be an extreme development of the old Homeric digression of the tale within the tale…."
Catullus 68 | Structure
The central theme of Book VI is laughter, and it is discussed extensively in chapter three. Aristotle's three artistic appeals, "ethos", "pathos", and "logos", are also discussed in Book VI (6.2).
Institutio Oratoria | Overview of Book VI
The work contains frequent allusion to ancient fable, the events of Greek and Roman history, and the memorable sayings of heroes and sages. Cicero references also the ancient Latin poets and quotes from their works. The "Tusculan Disputations" is the locus classicus of the legend of the Sword of Damocles, as well as of the sole mention of "cultura animi" as an agricultural metaphor for human culture. Cicero also mentions disapprovingly Amafinius, one of the first Latin writers on philosophy in Rome.
Tusculanae Disputationes | Other themes
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BC – 17 AD) was also familiar with narcissi, in his recounting of the self-loving youth who is turned into the flower, in the third book of his "Metamorphoses" "l." 509 ""croceum pro corpore florem inveniunt, foliis medium cingemtibus albis"" (They came upon a flower, instead of his body, with white petals surrounding a yellow heart) and also the fifth book of his "Fasti" "l." 201 ""Tu quoque nomen habes cultos, Narcisse, per hortos"" (You too, Narcissus, were known among the gardens). This theme of metamorphosis was broader than just "Narcissus", for instance see "crocus" (Krokus), laurel (Daphne) and hyacinth (Hyacinthus).
Narcissus in culture | Roman culture
The lyrics use a simple ABABCDCD rhyme scheme, with verses of eight lines, and alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Davis describes how he learned of ancient fighters for freedom as a boy — the three hundred Spartans who fought at the Battle of Thermopylae. The "three men" may refer to Horatius Cocles and his two companions who defended the Sublician Bridge, a legend recounted in Macaulay's poem "Horatius, published as part of the Lays of Ancient Rome, in 1842, or alternatively to the three assassins of Julius Caesar (Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus) who aimed to preserve the Roman Republic from tyranny.
A Nation Once Again | Lyrics
The different genres and divisions in the narrative allow the "Metamorphoses" to display a wide range of themes. Scholar Stephen M. Wheeler notes that "metamorphosis, mutability, love, violence, artistry, and power are just some of the unifying themes that critics have proposed over the years".
Metamorphoses | Themes
The theme was the common property of medieval Latin poets. The line of Boethius (5th century) was well known: "Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent?" Where now do the bones of faithful Fabricius lie? The words "Ubi sunt" begin several Latin medieval poems and occur, for example, in the second stanza of the 13th-century goliardic song "De Brevitate Vitae", known from its "incipit" as "Gaudeamus Igitur":
Ubi sunt | Latin poetry
Tacitus considered their loss a happy accident for the dictator's literary reputation:
Poems by Julius Caesar | Reception
Also, the ideas found within the poem are not unique within his poetry, and the revolution would appear again in his "Ode to France".
The Destruction of the Bastile | Themes
The story of Midas (Book XI 174–193) is referred to and appears—though much altered—in The Wife of Bath's Tale. The story of Ceyx and Alcyone (from Book IX) is adapted by Chaucer in his poem "The Book of the Duchess", written to commemorate the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster and wife of John of Gaunt. The "Metamorphoses" was also a considerable influence on William Shakespeare. His "Romeo and Juliet" is influenced by the story of Pyramus and Thisbe ("Metamorphoses" Book IV); and, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", a band of amateur actors performs a play about Pyramus and Thisbe.
Metamorphoses | Influence
"A dangerously pagan work," the "Metamorphoses" was preserved through the Roman period of Christianization, but was criticized by the voices of Augustine and Jerome, who believed the only metamorphosis really was the transubstantiation. Though the "Metamorphoses" did not suffer the ignominious fate of the "Medea", no ancient scholia on the poem survive (although they did exist in antiquity), and the earliest manuscript is very late, dating from the 11th century.
Metamorphoses | Manuscript tradition
For most of its plot, the poem is heavily indebted to Book 4 of the Metamorphoses of the Roman author Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D.18). However, Metham not only substitutes the names of Ovid's lovers (Pyramus and Thisbe), but Christianizes the entire story by adding a somewhat surprising salvific ending. For its style, language, and role of the narrator, Metham depends heavily on the fourteenth-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, especially his poem Troilus and Criseyde.
Amoryus and Cleopes | Literary relations
A Messenger who was present, reports the cruel deed of Atreus, and how the three children were killed and then served up to Thyestes at the horrible feast. The Chorus, observing the going down of the Sun, becomes alarmed, fearing that the whole fabric of the universe should dissolve into fragments and lapse into eternal chaos.
Thyestes (Seneca) | Act IV
During Renaissance and Baroque times Ovid's story emerged again as a popular theme. In Spain Luis de Góngora y Argote wrote the much admired narrative poem, "Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea", published in 1627. It is particularly noted for its depiction of landscape and for the sensual description of the love of Acis and Galatea. It was written in homage to an earlier and rather shorter narrative with the same title by Luis Carillo y Sotomayor (1611). The story was also given operatic treatment in the very popular zarzuela of Antoni Lliteres Carrió (1708). The atmosphere here is lighter and enlivened by the inclusion of the clowns Momo and Tisbe.
Polyphemus | Literature and music
One of the major themes of Campana, which is present at the beginning of the "Orphic Songs" in the early prose parts - "The Night", "Journey and Return" - is the obscurity between dream and wakefulness. Adjectives and adverbs return with the repetitive insistence of a dreamer's speech: a dream, however, that is interrupted by startling shifts in tone (as in the poem "The Skylight"). In the second part - the nocturne of "Genoa", all the basic mythic figures and scenes that will preoccupy Campana return: port cities, barbaric mother figures, enormous prostitutes, windy plains, the captive teenager. Even in his prose poems, the use of repetition, superlatives, and keywords, as well as the effect of resonance in prepositions, create a strong scene.
Dino Campana | Key Themes
All references to "Titus Andronicus", unless otherwise specified, are taken from the "Oxford Shakespeare" (Waith), based on the Q1 text of 1594 (except 3.2, which is based on the folio text of 1623). Under its referencing system, 4.3.15 means act 4, scene 3, line 15.
Themes in Titus Andronicus | Notes
In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague, Shakespeare published two narrative poems on sexual themes, "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece". He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. In "Venus and Adonis", an innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus; while in "The Rape of Lucrece", the virtuous wife Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin. Influenced by Ovid's "Metamorphoses", the poems show the guilt and moral confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. Both proved popular and were often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime. A third narrative poem, "A Lover's Complaint", in which a young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor, was printed in the first edition of the "Sonnets" in 1609.
William Shakespeare | Poems
Its themes of virtue, sacrifice, and devotion to the nation sparked much controversy when it was unveiled in the politically charged era of the French Revolution.
The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons | Introduction
Ceres appeals to Cupid to release her nymphs; Cupid agrees, if Ceres will pardon Erisichthon. (The faithful love of Protea for Petulius has earned her Cupid's protection.) The nymphs are restored to their original forms once they agree to accept the three humans as husbands; the quadruple wedding is held at the house of Erisichthon.
Love's Metamorphosis | Synopsis
It is coincidental enough that the speaker suggests that the only way to immortalize his beloved as he is, is through his writing. And the way that Caesar and the others are kept alive is through writing, through history, and in some senses through Shakespeare himself. It is rather universally accepted that a body of Shakespeare's sonnets, including 65, are addressed to a young man whose beauty the poems make known. The young man is like Caesar, then, in that Shakespeare recognizes the presence of feminine qualities in a man. But the common theme is more than recognition, it is an acknowledgment of tension created by that recognition.
Sonnet 65 | Connection to "The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar"
According to the poem, lust, sexual aggression, and male arousal, themes often associated with Priapus, are the driving forces behind such plot points as the abduction of Helen of Troy, Penelope’s faithfulness, and Odysseus ("Ulixes" in Latin, whence Ulysses)'s entanglements with mortal and divine women in the course of his homecoming. The poem attributes to Odysseus Priapus’ own comically large penis, and places the organ at the very center of the epic. The statue argues that the memory of her husband Odysseus’ “fine tool” left Penelope reluctant to settle for the less-impressive suitors courting her, but also attracted the attentions of women—Circe, Calypso, and Nausicaa—for both good and ill in the course of the poem.
Priapea 68 | Summary
Horace offers a less-than-serious lament in "Odes" 3.10 and even threatens the door in 3.26; Tibullus (1.2) appeals to the door itself; in Propertius (1.16), the door is the sole speaker. In Ovid's "Amores" (1.6), the speaker claims he would gladly trade places with the doorkeeper, a slave who is shackled to his post, as he begs the door-keeper to allow him access to his mistress, Corinna. In the "Metamorphoses", the famous wall ("invide obstas") with its chink ("vitium") that separates the star-crossed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, seems to be an extension of this motif. The appeal of the paraclausithyron derives from its condensing of the situation of love elegy to the barest essentials: the lover, the beloved and the obstacle, allowing poets to ring variations on a basic theme.
Paraklausithyron | Introduction
Marcus feels that, as a civilised country, this is how Rome should act. He is also the great champion of civility when pleading with Titus to let Mutius be buried in the family tomb; Suffer thy brother Marcus to inter His noble nephew here in virtue's nest, That died in honour and Lavinia's cause. Thou art a Roman; be not barbarous: The Greeks upon advise did bury Ajax, That slew himself; and wise Laertes' son Did graciously plead for his funerals; Let not young Mutius then that was thy joy, Be barred his entrance here. However, not all of the characters agree with the simple equation that Rome is civilised and everything else barbaric.
Themes in Titus Andronicus | Civilisation vs. Barbarism
In spite of the "Metamorphoses" enduring popularity from its first publication (around the time of Ovid's exile in 8 AD) no manuscript survives from antiquity. From the 9th and 10th centuries there are only fragments of the poem; it is only from the 11th century onwards that manuscripts, of varying value, have been passed down. Influential in the course of the poem's manuscript tradition is the 17th-century Dutch scholar Nikolaes Heinsius. During the years 1640–52, Heinsius collated more than a hundred manuscripts and was informed of many others through correspondence. But the poem's immense popularity in antiquity and the Middle Ages belies the struggle for survival it faced in late antiquity.
Metamorphoses | Manuscript tradition
The mood of the masses is a recurring theme, with their reactions to the fortunes of Germanicus being a prominent feature of the relationship between him and Tiberius well into the "Annals" (as far as "Annals" 3.19).
Germanicus | Publius Cornelius Tacitus
The 644-line poem, like all Ovid's extant work except the "Metamorphoses", is written in elegiac couplets. It is thus an unusual, though not unique, example of invective poetry in antiquity written in elegiac form rather than the more common iambics or hendecasyllabics. The incantatory nature of the curses in the "Ibis" has sometimes led to comparisons with curse tablets ("defixiones"), though Ovid's are elaborately literary in expression; the poem has also been seen as a type of "devotio". Drawing on the encyclopedic store of knowledge he demonstrated in the "Metamorphoses" and his other work — presumably from memory, as he purportedly had few books with him in exile — Ovid threatens his enemy in the second section of the poem (lines 251–638) with a veritable catalogue of "gruesome and mutually incompatible fates" that befell various figures from myth and history, ranging from laming and blinding to cannibalism to death by pine cone.
Ibis (Ovid) | Structure and Themes
The problematic nature of this third stage is a theme in many of the author's novels and stories, and essentially it is the problem of Osewoudt of the war novel "The Darkroom of Damocles" (1958), driven to despair by the discrepanties between his own view of himself and the images that others have of him. Unable to find acceptance for his view of himself, he loses his identity as well as his life. Similarly, Alfred fights for his identity, as he attempts to become symmetrical to his ideal self-image and next to find confirmation for this image from others. The implication is that he finds himself in the third stage, yet his view of himself is far from complete, which becomes evident when he looks in the little mirror in his compass.
Beyond Sleep | Themes
Each of the six sections is based on a character from Roman mythology who is briefly described: The piece is between 10 and 15 minutes in length.
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid | Structure
The poem's story revolves around the myth of a popular or national hero, who protects his people from the atrocities of foreign enemies. The main theme explored in "O Armatolos" are the religious hatred and inter-religious clashes this caused in the 19th century. The original text of the poem consists of 912 alternately rhymed verses. The beginning of the original version follows: Here the author creates an allusion of the deep sorrow of the people from Reka, still without knowing what is the cause. Asking multiple questions, suspecting situations that might strike such grieve. The questions are rejected in the third stanza, giving the real cause in the fourth: Since the beginning of the first verse, Parlichev lyrical and suggestive style by the unforced hyperbole, antithesis and Homeric comparisons, introduces the reader to the event, heralding the doom that the people of Reka have after the falling death of the armatoloi.
O Armatolos | Poem
This myth is also briefly referenced in Ovid's "Metamorphoses".
Botres | Introduction
Maykov's first foray into the history of early Christianity, "Olynthus and Esther" (1841) was criticized by Belinsky. He returned to this theme ten years later in the lyrical drama "Three Deaths" (1857), was dissatisfied with the result, and went on to produce part two, "The Death of Lucius" (1863). "Three Deaths" became the starting point of his next big poem, "Two Worlds", written in 1872, then re-worked and finished in 1881. Following Belinsky's early advice, Maykov abandoned Lucius, a weak Epicurean, and made the new hero Decius, a patrician who, while hating Nero, still hopes for the state to rise up from its ashes.
Apollon Maykov | Christianity and paganism
There is the myth of Lycaon's transformation into a wolf, which appears at the beginning of the epic, warning readers of the dangers of impiety and cruelty. We especially see the myths of Medea and Hercules in Ovid's epic, translating their stories from the tragic stage into the written tale. The whole of the "Metamorphoses" is built on the stories that have been told and retold throughout ancient history, these common knowledge myths that shape the culture of the times. Mythology is the main subject matter within the tragic genre, so it must be included by Ovid in the epic in order to effectively translate their tragic themes into his writing.
Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses | Mythology
The artwork refers to a Spanish literary work "La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea" and Ovid's "Metamorphoses". The oil painting was commissioned by French banker Jean Pointel and pictures characters from the Greek mythology. In the foreground pictured are semi-nude nymphs, being watched by satyrs hidden in the nearby bushes. On green fields behind them are people listening to music played on a flute by the Cyclops Polyphemus, who in turn appears to be blended into rocky mountains in the background.
Landscape with Polyphemus | Theme
Borges explores a variety of topics in the text, such as the need of generalization and abstraction to thought and science.
Funes the Memorious | Major themes