Ovid As An Epic PoetIn his study of the structure of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Professor Otis shows that the real unity of the poem is to be sought not in the linkage but in the order or succession of episodes, motifs and ideas. The poem is nothing less than what Ovid called it, a carmen perpetuum, a narrative poem with a real continuity achieved by a gradual shift of emotional emphasis through a long series of episodes arranged in an elaborate pattern. For this second edition of his study of the Metamorphoses, originally published in 1970, Professor Otis has written a new concluding chapter. He also takes account of the constructive reviews of the first edition and a number of important books that had been published in the years following its publication. Further, he has removed what had emerged as some ambiguities in his conclusions and made some correction of emphasis to his judgements. |
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Actaeon Aeacus Aeneas Aeneid Alcyone Alcyone's amatory amours Apollo apotheosis Arachne Atalanta Augustan Augustus Bacchus Book Byblis Byblis and Myrrha Cacus Callimachus Callisto carmen perpetuum Catullus central panel Cephalus certainly Ceyx Ceyx and Alcyone Ceyx-Alcyone Ceyx's Ciris comedy comic contrast course Daphne deliberately deorum Diana divine amores elegiac elegy emotion epic episodes Erysichthon Euripides fact Fasti father final goddess gods Hellenistic Hercules hero heroic hexameter Homer human incongruity Iphis Juno Juno's Jupiter libido lines lover maiestas Medea Meleager metamorphosis Midas mihi Minyades miracle motif Myrrha myth narrative neoteric Nicander Niobe Nonnus obviously Orpheus Ovid Ovid's Ovidian parody passion pathos Pentheus Perseus Phaethon Philomela Phoebus piety poem Procne Procris Propertius punishment Pygmalion Pythagoras quae Roman Rome scene Scylla seems Semele sense soliloquy sources speech story style Tereus theme theodicy tone tragedy tragic vengeance Venus Virgil Virgilian whole Zmyrna