Metamorphoses

by Ovid

Ovid depicts a universe in which human beings, and more often than not the gods who are supposed to be in charge, are at the mercy of blind or arbitrary or cruel, and always irresistible, forces.

E. J. Kenney

Ovid's achievement in the Metamorphoses is to transmute what ought to be a profoundly depressing vision of existence into a cosmic comedy of manners.

E. J. Kenney

The immense and unpredictable variety of human (and divine) behaviour so entertainingly reviewed in the first fourteen books of the poem is finally accounted for and justified only after the evidence has been produced. Pythagoras' exposition, that is to say, may be seen as a kind of theodicy.

E. J. Kenney

Genius is, among other things, the ability to transform common artistic property into something original and individual. Ovid's use of his sources in the Metamorphoses exemplifies with unusual brilliance the power of the creative intelligence to work this recurrent miracle.

E. J. Kenney

No transformation recounted by him is as remarkable as this poetic miracle whereby legend after legend assumed for ever afterwards the form that he had chosen to give it.

E. J. Kenney

Attempts have been made to show that the structure of the poem is an integral part of its message. This is true in the sense that its fluid and often elusive texture faithfully reflects that of life itself and the ever-changing universe, in which individuals, families, peoples, cities, empires, territories come and go without apparent reason or order.

E. J. Kenney

Such a question shows a misunderstanding of the duty of a translator; it implies that he has a duty to be different. His duty is to provide a version in tune with his own time, in an idiom as welcome to his contemporaries as Ovid's was to his audience two thousand years ago.

A. D. Melville

It may be doubted whether any poem has had so great an influence on the literature and art of Western civilization as the

Metamorphoses. A. D. Melville

It is time to enjoy once more the tales of the Metamorphoses, not only for the famous stories that they tell, but for the grace and fluency of Ovid's style, the wit, humour, pathos, mischief, and majesty that make this one of the most enjoyable poems ever written.

A. D. Melville