Ovid's Complete Works: Analysis of Metamorphoses and Exile Poetry

Ovid's Poetic Evolution and Context

Ovid was a generation after Virgil, meaning the social situation was significantly different; the Augustan Pax (or Pax Romana) was a reality. Ovid's career demonstrates a clear poetic evolution, typically divided into three major blocks:

1. Block 1: Love Elegy and Didactic Poetry

   This block focuses on love elegy, retrieving the language, situations, and history of Latin elegy and playing with them creatively. Ovid often plays with conventions, forcing changes and new approaches, making the work less naturalistic than earlier elegists.

   • Amores: Love elegy, focusing on the ode to love.
   • Heroides: Letters from heroines to their lovers, combining epistolography with the theme of love, thereby creating a new genre.
   • Ars Amatoria: A manual for flirting, playing with the genre of textbooks. This work was controversial as it was inconsistent with the social situation (Augustus was attempting to enforce practices leading to ordained Roman marriage).

2. Block 2: The Fasti and Scholarly Works

   This block shows a predominance of scholarship. The Fasti makes a journey through the calendar, explaining the days and festivals. It is a catalog work (similar to Hesiod's Works and Days), though the theme of love is still present.

3. Block 3: Poetry of Exile (Tristia and Epistulae)

   This poetry was written during Ovid's exile in Tomis. These elegiac poems are addressed to Augustus and other Romans, specifically requesting forgiveness and a return to Rome:

   • Tristia
   • Epistulae ex Ponto

The Metamorphoses: Structure and Themes

The Metamorphoses is divided into 15 books of epic poetry. It deals with the tension between mythology and history, ultimately decanting toward myth. It contains about 250 myths.

Key Themes and Literary Significance

The main theme is **metamorphosis** (change), which is discussed in more than 170 myths, but the overarching theme is **love**. It is a mythological creation based on a chronological structure, starting from the foundation of the world up to Ovid's present time. The final part involves contemporary characters, including Caesar, Augustus, and Ovid himself, with whom he closes the work.

The Metamorphoses is extremely important both literarily and mythographically, serving as a catalog of myths that has influenced countless representations throughout history.

Literary Sources and Alexandrian Influence

Ovid's sources are varied, demonstrating a great combination of genres—a typically Alexandrian feature. Sources include:

• Hellenistic works concerning changes.
• The traditional epic poetry of Homer and Virgil.
• The poetry of Hesiod.
• The catalog of Aetia (explaining origins), which appears frequently in works like Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica.
• Influences from other genres, such as tragedy (especially Euripides) and lyric poetry.
• Themes taken from Ovid's own earlier works, given a new approach.

We find an influence of epic solemnity but also of the *epyllion* (mini-epic) and the catalog form.

Metamorphoses as a Counter-Model to the Aeneid

The Metamorphoses may be viewed as a response to Virgil's Aeneid, proposing a different model for the epic genre. This comparison can be seen in several ways:

• It emphasizes **movement** (metamorphosis) against the static nature of the Aeneid.
• It can be considered a succession of *epyllia* against the single main theme of the Aeneid.
• Ovid uses the resource of telling the story ab ovo (starting the story from the cosmogony), challenging the prevailing aesthetic that advised against starting a work from the absolute beginning.

Ultimately, Ovid may be emulating Virgil by adopting epic characteristics but taking a fundamentally different approach.

Unifying Procedures and Book Division

The structure is maintained across 15 books through various procedures that give unity to the collection of stories:

• Overlapping Stories: A story may begin in one book and finish in the next.
• External Procedures: The use of the frame narrative, where one narrative includes other stories.
• Thematic Unity: Stories are linked by characters who appear in several narratives.

Unifying themes include not only love but also the theme of **pietas** (resumed from the Aeneid), which involves being responsible and respectful of the things that are above the human realm, or the **wrath of the gods**, who punish humans offended by their pain.

The 15 books are divided into three sequences of five books, with specific markers indicating these divisions.

Ovid's Poetic Style and Character Portrayal

Regarding Ovid's poetic approach, it is characterized by a continuous system of **transgression**. He often highlights the most important characteristics of a particular genre (or several different genres) and then immediately calls those characteristics into question, thereby emphasizing his own activity as a poet.

• Characterization: The characters are finely portrayed psychologically, unlike the more generalized Homeric figures. They possess specific psychological profiles, heavily influenced by tragedy.
• Style: The narrative drive is highly apparent in Ovid's style.