Apollo's Human Gardening in Ovid's Metamorphoses Essays

The scene is first set up through the personification of the sun. The poet uses interesting diction and phrases, such as “dipping” and “geometries” to describe nature. The sun is described with human characteristics, “build[ing]” these “geometries and orchids” and “riding/The last tumultuous avalanche”. It is like an almighty being that is capable of anything, including the controlling of nature. The poet wants to portray nature as a hidden yet powerful force that should not be seen as a simple concept. Contrasts,

In Ancient Rome, there were an abundant amount of myths that involved the gods and the religions of the Romans. These myths told stories of the gods’ interactions with the humans, which the Romans took seriously. Some examples of these myths were the story of Aeneas and his eventual role in the Trojan War in The Aeneid and the story of Lucius and his transformation into an ass in The Golden Ass. An important text that involved many myths is Metamorphoses, written by Ovid. This epic involved many stories of different gods and different humans and their interactions. The main theme in this epic is the theme of change and transformation, which is the center of most of the myths that are told in the epic. One myth that is significant is of the

Lena’s plant represents her will to survive, despite her dreary circumstances. “ Lord if this little old plant doesn’t get more sun than it’s been getting it ain’t never going to see spring again,” ( Act I Scene I, pg 1550). Just like her plant, Lena has barely been given enough to

Seemingly, the flowers represent Elisa. She believes she is strong and tough and able to accomplish anything thrown her way; however, taken for granted as she is only a woman allowed to look and act accordingly. Surrounding the flowers is a wire fence set up to keep out predators and to separate the flowers from the rest of the farm. The wire fence is symbolic in the fact that it is identical to the world Elisa lives in. Elisa is contained within the farm, unable to explore or leave without the help of someone else. Elisa is stuck on the farm, isolated from the rest of the world so that she can be kept safe. Naive and unaware of how the world works, her husband keeps her on the farm to protect her from harm. When Elisa gives the chrysanthemum to the travelling merchant, she gives him a small piece of herself. Later, as her and her husband are driving to town, she sees the flower tossed aside as though it was nothing; as a result, she realizes she could never go off on and live the way the merchant had. The flowers embody her character still, and how out of her home without protection, the world can be harsh and cruel. In short, Elisa’s isolation leaves her ignorant, unable to understand how callous the world is, and comes to the bleak realization that she can’t live a life anywhere outside of her fence. Because of how women were treated, constantly pushed down and unable to pursue their interests, Elisa is left unable to learn what life has to offer. Learning

In Greek Mythology hubris is never a good thing to have especially when dealing with a god or goddess. When hubris is exhibited by a human it results in life altering or fatal punishment by the gods and goddesses. The Odyssey and Ovid’s Metamorphoses have human characters who exhibited hubris by boasting, thinking themselves is better than a goddess, and not taking heed to warning which lead to punishment.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the reader is faced with a wide array of transformation of humans to objects, plants and animals and also the seasonal transformation due to the emotions of the Gods’. Too most of us today, the changing of the seasons is due to the rotation of the earth around the sun. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the changing of the season are shown to be due to the emotions of Ceres, and this changing of the season is one such transformation due to the emotion of a God. Ceres is angry over the loss of her daughter, Proserpina, to Dis, (also know as Pluto or Hades, King of the Dead), her anger causes devastation to the land by droughts, floods and other natural disasters. Ceres

Within the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, there was a plethora of regimes, Caesars, and empires at the helm of everyday life. The political sphere encountered in the daily routines of ancient Greeks and Romans gave influence to the multitude of literary works produced in these societies. The works of Euripides, Virgil, and Ovid gave a vehicle for these writers to infuse commentary about the politics of the day. Politics is how groups of people organize making decisions that affect the individuals contained within said groups. The Bacchae, the Aeneid, and Book 15 of Metamorphoses all contain commentary concerning politics within their content.

“A dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid.” (Hurston 11).

Her demeanor suddenly changes. He makes her feel intellectually and physically stimulated. Her feminine sexuality awakens. She turns the conversation of the chrysanthemums into something sexual. “When the night is dark-why, the stars are sharp-pointed, and there’s quiet. Why, you rise up and up! Every pointed star gets driven into your body. It’s like that. Hot and sharp and lovely” (444). She completely surrenders herself to him as manifested by her kneeling before him “like a fawning dog” as she hands him the chrysanthemum shoots. But despite all that, the traveler holds no interest in her or her flowers. This symbolizes society’s rejection of women in the workforce no matter their talents.

The sculpture Apollo and Daphne, created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is based off a story from Book 1 of Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is a portrayal of when Daphne is turned into a tree when trying to escape Apollo after they were both shot with an arrow by Eros. The sculpture is a powerful visual of Daphne and Apollo’s emotions as Daphne was captured by him. To evaluate the photo further I will discuss the feeling of empathy the sculpture made me feel and two connections the sculpture has to Ovid’s story.

The personalities of the gods are as broad as there are stars in the heavens, and as such the ways that these gods interact with mortals vary. The purpose of gods intervening with the days of man comes down to two things, good or bad; there are gods who are caring and loving towards mortals while others view man as pawns which they can use for their own personal agenda. A few gods that capture and exemplify the various personalities of the gods can be found in Ovid: The Metamorphoses of Ovid and Homer: The essential Homer: Selections from the Iliad and the Odyssey. Although the ways man and the gods communicate and get each other’s attention are different, there are reoccurring and overarching themes such as desire, and loyalty that make each intervention between gods and mortals similar.

In one word, the author Ovid describes the overall content and theme of his poem with the word “Metamorphoses” in the title. Some relative synonyms of this word among others are; altar, change, mutate, develop, and reshape (metamorphose). But Ovid goes further to describe the theme within the first two lines of the poem.

The construct of narcissism finds its origins in ancient Greece and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, with the proud and vain figure of Narcissus, cursed by the goddess, Nemesis, to fall in love with his own reflection. However, conceptualizations of pathological narcissism did not became a part of psychological theory until the late nineteenth century with Freud’s eminent essay: On Narcissism (Ronningstam, 2005). As Freud theorized on narcissism and, ironically, experimented with cocaine, the formal diagnosis of addiction was precipitously incorporated into the medical literature in response to increasing uncontrolled narcotic use and growing public health concern (Markel, 2012). Perhaps predictably, theorizing on the possible association between narcissism and addiction, particularly in the psychoanalytic tradition, has been addressed by theorists since. The term narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) was first introduced by Heinz Kohut in 1968, and saw inclusion in formal diagnostic literature in 1980 as a part of the significant revisions to personality disorders in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; American Psychiatric Association, 1980).

The tale of the Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas and how he founds the Roman people. The most well known version of this story is Virgil’s Aeneid. The traditional interpretation of Virgil’s depiction of the hero and the myth is that it was used as propaganda for the new imperial system that the emperor Augustus had introduced. In contrast with this is the Harvard School interpretation, which states that Virgil’s Aeneid is actually undermining the Imperial system. Despite there being some evidence for this, Virgil’s illustration best fits under the traditional interpretation. In contrast with this is Ovid’s Little Aeneid found in his Metamorphoses. This essay will analyse these illustrations

Transformations from one shape or form into another are the central theme in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The popularity and timelessness of this work stems from the manner of story telling. Ovid takes stories relevant to his culture and time period, and weaves them together into one work with a connecting theme of transformation throughout. The thread of humor that runs through Metamorphoses is consistent with the satire and commentary of the work. The theme is presented in the opening lines of Metamorphoses, where the poet invokes the gods, who are responsible for the changes, to look favorably on his efforts to compose. The changes are of many kinds: from human to animal, animal to human, thing to