Analysis Of Ovid's Metamorphoses

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Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses is Ovid’s most famous work. The poetry preserves information pertaining to the author, provenance, genre, and intended audience and provenance of the text. The author, Ovid, was born around 43 BCE in Sulmo, which is a town about 100 miles from Rome. He was born into a politically active family whose intention was for Ovid to have a political career. They sent him to Rome with his brother, and this was where Ovid found poetry. He began writing in 26 BCE, and in 8 CE Ovid was banished to Tomis because his work Ars Armatoria was offensive and he committed an unknown crime. At the time of his exile from Rome, Ovid was finished with Metamorphoses, but he burned his original manuscript as a result of anger. It was later …show more content…

He was reforming religion and morals. During the beginning of his reign, the people were moving away from religion and they were in moral discourse. Augustus tried to revive the idea that people should live to please the gods by implementing religious reforms. He restored old temples and shrines, and he brought back religious ceremonies that had died off. On the other hand the moral standards of the people had changed as well. The concept of family was not important and adultery was common. In attempts to revive moral standards, Augustus started punishing the adulterers. He made it a civil crime that could be punishable by death or banishment. All of this was put into place to try and bring the empire back to its Roman roots, and deny change. In contrast, life is ever-changing. Individuals, families, people, cities, empires, and territories are altered with no order. They come and go and Ovid’s Metamorphoses reflects this change through its fluidity and obscure texture. Ovid used the enclosing technique to organize the stories in such a way that reader was unsure of his bearings. This contributes the theory that life does not make sense. Sometimes life does not have order and is obscure. Also, the entire concept of Metamorphoses is change. Ovid’s structure of writing, and concept of the text, contradicted what Augustus’s actions of inhibiting change. The way that Ovid wrote signified that he did not agree with Augustus attempts to revive the old Rome, and deny change of religion and

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