1.

The proem (1.1-4) of Ovid’s Metamorphoses announces a deceptively simple project: "Of bodies changed to other forms I tell / …In one continuous song from nature’s first / Remote beginnings to our modern times." Compare Ovid’s proem to previous epic openings in terms of both form and content. What is "missing" in Ovid’s? For what sort of work does Ovid’s proem raise expectations? How are these fulfilled or frustrated?

2.

Related to the previous question is Ovid’s achievement at characterizing his narrator. In a poem without a single protagonist in the story, his continuous presence through the long poem makes the narrator himself into the epic hero in a sense. What kind of narrator is Ovid? Does he have a distinctive tone or point of view with respect to the material? Is he consistent in his tone/point of view? How is he similar and different to the Homeric, Apollonian, and Virgilian narrators?

3.

The poem’s announced topic is metamorphosis, or "bodies changed to other forms." What does the poem mean by metamorphosis? What forms does it take and what functions does it perform? Does it refer to changes other than physical ones? Does metamorphosis have a moral significance? And, again, is it consistently presented or varied?

4.

How does Ovid portray the gods in the early books of the poem? What are his points of emphasis? What sorts of situations do they figure in? How is his treatment like or unlike Homer’s, Apollonius’, Virgil’s?

5.

How does Ovid treat the quintessential epic theme of war and violence? How does it appear in the early books of the poem and how is it handled? Comparison, as always, with Homer, Apollonius, Virgil is necessary in calculating the ethics of violence in the Metamorphoses. How does Ovid specifically relate to epic ways of killing? What about the poet’s sympathies? Where, if expressed or implied, do they lie? We have also seen a number of instances of love elevated to an epic theme. How does Ovid relate to these developments?

6.

Coming where he does in literary history, Ovid is capable of taking advantage of all the epic texts previously read in this course. His is a style, therefore, that blends the "classical" model for epic [Homer, Virgil] with the "Hellenistic" [Apollonius, Catullus, Virgil (that is to say that since Virgil himself blends epic styles, he can variously be used as a model for either style)]. Identify some ways in which this stylistic blending plays out in such areas as form and scope of the poem, narrative technique, subject matter, etc. Identify a specific passage in the Metamorphoses that can be analyzed in these terms as either "classical" epic in nature or more "Hellenistic" in its orientation. Be prepared to argue for your interpretation by adducing specific comparanda from previous texts.