Analysis Of Ovid: Metamorphosis

Pena Ajena; foreigner’s guilt. A Spanish term that loosely translates to then agony on feels when witnessing someone else’s shame. It 's synonymous with empathy. People usually come across this sudden sinking in their hearts when they experience someone dealing with the regret and desolation. A lover, family member, pet or sentimental possession. It 's the feeling one receives unintentionally from someone else. To feel both sympathize and realizing its ominous undertone. Ovid: Metamorphosis is an eloquent hymn about Greek Orpheus succumbing to depression following the loss of his wife. Along the way, he loses himself in suffering and impromptu his death. The interpreter of the original hymn uses his poetic language to give just to this classical. …show more content…
For example, unresolved inquiries raised by the narrator leave both Orpheus and reader bitterly disappointed. For example, in the third to last stanza, just before the double-death, the narrator says, “Was it he, or she, reaching out arms trying to hold or to be held, and clasping nothing but empty air” (Ovid 236)? This quote offers an interesting question. Naturally, readers would gloss over the extent of Eurydice and Orpheus love. The narrator dares to question it. Something important to notice: Ovid is a retelling of the classic Orpheus and Eurydice story. It only offers a third person perspective of Orpheus; Eurydice remains eerily silent through the story, Why? The narrator goes on to say, “Dying a second time; she had no reproach to bring against her husband[...]” (Ovid 236). These two passages allow the reader to infer: One, per the narration, Orpheus and Eurydice wedded; their love existed. Two, Orpheus’s self-determination to bring his late bride back is borderline obsessive; while Eurydice’s silence is troubling. The latter half of the quote is important, “[...] what was there to complain of” (Ovid 236)? Just like love and its doubts are also ubiquitous. The doubts of love and acceptance of fate always remain philosophical and yet understandable. Although Ovid: Metamorphoses answers many of the reader 's questions it remains open-ended. Does …show more content…
Words like wide-extending yet lacking, virgin, easily broken, bending under its acorn, color-change can only have two explanations. One, the image serves to highlight and the otherwise somber moment that even the fauna weep. Or it’s a metaphor for Orpheus’s depression finally overcoming his will and heralding his suicide. So, Orpheus chooses to turn into a “bare-trunked pine,” in other words, an exposed conifer. The Attis reference here is interesting, for Attis is known for self-mutilation, death, and resurrection. Attis represents pines that die in the winter and rise again in the spring. Which emphasizes the strongest quote uttered by Orpheus “That was the better way: enjoy the springtime, and take those first flowers!” (Ovid 236). This poignant quote reminder of the passing of time and its demand of urgency. It is the open-mindedness that makes this literary piece, universal and timeless, despite the reader’s inferences. Ovid’s Metamorphosis remains one classic poem that addresses the anguish of lost love, missed opportunity and death. It reminds readers that these pains aren’t new; they 're enduring. Rolfe Humphries rendition beautifully captures not only the reader 's imagination but their sympathy as well. His use of both poetic language and his clever use of double entendre blends death with life, beauty, and nature. This tragedy should serve as an omen instead of a triumphant loss. To allow