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dee9401's review against another edition
5.0
What a way to start off 2017. Charles Martin’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses has skyrocketed into my list of favorite books. I savored each page and made sure I was calm and focused each time I sat down to read so that I wouldn’t miss anything. If I had to quote the best part, I’d say it was: “My mind leads me to speak now of forms changed / into new bodies … and if there is truth in poets’ prophesies, / then in my fame forever I will live” (Book I:1 - Book XV: 1112).
I enjoyed Ovid’s grouping of history into four ages: Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron. In the beginning, we had beauty, no need for laws, peace and nature. By the time we find ourselves in the Iron Age, we have war, greed, and despoiling of nature in furthering of those two desires. Ovid writes that in the age of Iron we dig in the ground to unearth gold and iron, the latter to kill and secure the former (p. 20).
I was fascinated with all the origin myths of the gods and heroes of the classical world. I am thankfully to have come to Ovid after having read so many other things from Greek and Roman mythology. Encountering Ovid first would have been confusing and not as wonderful an experience. As I’m a huge Homer fan and of the larger Epic Cycle, I enjoyed the “Ajax versus Ulysses” section of Book XIII, which deals with the awarding of Achilles’ armor after his death at Troy. I also enjoyed Pythagoras’s thoughts on the moral imperative of vegetarianism in Book XV. I loved seeing the seeds of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Ovid’s tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (Book IV, p. 125). Ovid didn’t invent this theme of forbidden love but I was so surprised reading this section that was written almost 1600 years before Shakespeare’s play.
The only part of this translation I didn’t enjoy was the “rap” part in Book V with the “The daughters of Pierus.” It just seemed full of pandering to stereotypes. One thing I found troubling, not with Ovid or the translation but with the mythology, was a thought I had in Book XI (though it built up over the entire work). Were all females, either goddesses or woman, raped to produce the male “heroes” of the classical world?
Almost all of Ovid’s metamorphoses (transformations) are of beings (gods or humans) being turned into flora or fauna. There are physical changes, mental fogginess, and the loss or change of spoken language. This death of personality can also be seen as a birth of sorts, whereby a new object comes into being, sometimes one beloved like various birds, trees or streams.
I’ll close this review with a note I wrote on the inside cover of my edition: “What wonder, to write when Homer, Ovid, Virgil and Horace wrote. To describe the world when it was new.” As a writer, I hope to try reinvent this newness and address it with my simple prose and verse.
I enjoyed Ovid’s grouping of history into four ages: Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron. In the beginning, we had beauty, no need for laws, peace and nature. By the time we find ourselves in the Iron Age, we have war, greed, and despoiling of nature in furthering of those two desires. Ovid writes that in the age of Iron we dig in the ground to unearth gold and iron, the latter to kill and secure the former (p. 20).
I was fascinated with all the origin myths of the gods and heroes of the classical world. I am thankfully to have come to Ovid after having read so many other things from Greek and Roman mythology. Encountering Ovid first would have been confusing and not as wonderful an experience. As I’m a huge Homer fan and of the larger Epic Cycle, I enjoyed the “Ajax versus Ulysses” section of Book XIII, which deals with the awarding of Achilles’ armor after his death at Troy. I also enjoyed Pythagoras’s thoughts on the moral imperative of vegetarianism in Book XV. I loved seeing the seeds of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Ovid’s tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (Book IV, p. 125). Ovid didn’t invent this theme of forbidden love but I was so surprised reading this section that was written almost 1600 years before Shakespeare’s play.
The only part of this translation I didn’t enjoy was the “rap” part in Book V with the “The daughters of Pierus.” It just seemed full of pandering to stereotypes. One thing I found troubling, not with Ovid or the translation but with the mythology, was a thought I had in Book XI (though it built up over the entire work). Were all females, either goddesses or woman, raped to produce the male “heroes” of the classical world?
Almost all of Ovid’s metamorphoses (transformations) are of beings (gods or humans) being turned into flora or fauna. There are physical changes, mental fogginess, and the loss or change of spoken language. This death of personality can also be seen as a birth of sorts, whereby a new object comes into being, sometimes one beloved like various birds, trees or streams.
I’ll close this review with a note I wrote on the inside cover of my edition: “What wonder, to write when Homer, Ovid, Virgil and Horace wrote. To describe the world when it was new.” As a writer, I hope to try reinvent this newness and address it with my simple prose and verse.
nfleow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
5.0
leesmyth's review against another edition
5.0
It's truly cinematic at times, but with sly details and deflating humor.
Didn't make a lot of notes, but here are two toward the end:
Red Wedding? Check!
Incels? Check!
There were many passages I read out loud with delight but did not make a note of.
My attention started to flag on the last half of final book, but otherwise I loved it.
Didn't make a lot of notes, but here are two toward the end:
Red Wedding? Check!
"It happened that an antique mixing bowl, engraved elaborately, stood nearby; though it was large, Theseus was larger, and so the greathearted hero hoisted it and smashed it into his opponent's face" (book XII lines 353-7)
Incels? Check!
"O Galatea, whiter than the snowy white flowers that decorate the privet hedge, richer in blossoms than the meadow is, taller, more slender than an alder tree, brighter than crystal, more skittish than a kid, smoother than a seashell on the shore worn by the ceaseless motion of the waves, more pleasing than the shade in summertime or sun in winter, swifter than the deer, and even more remarkable to see, far more conspicuous than the tall plane tree, clearer than ice, sweeter than ripe grapes, softer than swans' down or the curdled milk, and, if you would not always flee from me, thore beautiful than an irrigated garden.
Yet you, the very selfsame Galatea, are fiercer than an untamed heifer is, harder than oak, more feigning than the sea, tougher than willow wands or bryony les movable than the rock I'm sitting on, rougher than rapids, prouder than a peacock, fiercer than fire, bitterer than thistles, grumpier than a nursing mother-bear, more unresponsive even than the ocean, less apt to pity than a stepped-on snake [...]." (book XIII lines 1142-68)
There were many passages I read out loud with delight but did not make a note of.
My attention started to flag on the last half of final book, but otherwise I loved it.
_oo_'s review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mikeykfranks's review against another edition
5.0
I would be remiss to give this work of incredibly poetry anything less than a five.
There are many stories that contain elements of themes that would possibly be triggering for some people. The gods are not kind, especially to women and young men.
There are many points in reading this where I felt bored and as though a few of these stories were just filler, especially towards the end when Ovid is telling the “history” of Rome.
But, overall, it was a great read. It features some of my favorite ancient stories (Orpheus and Eurydice, Daedalus and Icarus, etc.) and tells them in an accessible way. I’m pleased to have read this.
There are many stories that contain elements of themes that would possibly be triggering for some people. The gods are not kind, especially to women and young men.
There are many points in reading this where I felt bored and as though a few of these stories were just filler, especially towards the end when Ovid is telling the “history” of Rome.
But, overall, it was a great read. It features some of my favorite ancient stories (Orpheus and Eurydice, Daedalus and Icarus, etc.) and tells them in an accessible way. I’m pleased to have read this.
querine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
4.5
phjlavtia's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5