The Spouter-Inn

3. The Metamorphoses.


Listen Later

“O gods, if any there be who will listen to my prayer, I do not refuse the

dire punishment I have deserved; but lest, surviving, I offend the living,
and, dying, I offend the dead, drive me from both realms; change me and refuse
me both life and death!” [...] Even as she spoke the earth closed over her
legs; roots burst forth from her toes [...] her blood changed to sap, her arms
to long branches, her fingers to twigs, her skin to hard bark. And now the
growing tree had closely bound her heavy womb, had buried her breast and was
just covering her neck; but she could not endure the delay and, meeting the
rising wood, she sank down and plunged her face in the bark.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a long and curious poem, telling stories of people

getting transformed into animals, plants, or stones; stones turning into
people, and language getting perverted every which way. Suzanne and Chris talk
about the issues in translation, the way language can be lost, creation and
the natural world, Ovid’s ideas of gender and sexuality, and medieval (and
later) interpretations of these stories. They also wrap up this first
cluster—on so-called “foundational” texts that turned out to have an
unexpected common theme—and announce the next cluster.

Show Notes.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses in three translations: Frank Justus

Miller, Brookes
More,
and Arthur
Golding.

The passages we discuss:

  • Narcissus and Echo,

    3.339–510

  • Myrrha,

    10.298–518

  • Io,

    1.567–649

  • Acteon,

    3.138–250

  • Philomela,

    6.424–674

  • Deucalion and Pyrrha,

    1.313–347

  • Niobe,

    6.146–312

  • Tiresias,

    3.314–336

  • Hermaphroditus,

    4.274–388

  • Orpheus,

    10.1–105
    and
    11.1–66

    Some later works inspired by the Metamorphoses:

    • Bernini, Apollo and

      Daphne

    • Caravaggio,

      Narcissus

    • Rubens, Deucalion and

      Pyrrha

    • Benjamin Britten, 6 Metamorphoses for solo oboe after

      Ovid

    • Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid

      The Ovide moralisé is currently being translated into modern English.

      Meanwhile here’s a translation into Middle English done by William
      Caxton.

      [Correction: Ovid was exiled in modern-day

      Romania.]

      The next book we’ll discuss.

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      The Spouter-InnBy Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris Piuma

      • 4.8
      • 4.8
      • 4.8
      • 4.8
      • 4.8

      4.8

      30 ratings


      More shows like The Spouter-Inn

      View all
      WTF with Marc Maron Podcast by Marc Maron

      WTF with Marc Maron Podcast

      29,249 Listeners

      Wonderful! by Rachel and Griffin McElroy

      Wonderful!

      5,806 Listeners

      The Daily by The New York Times

      The Daily

      111,761 Listeners

      It’s Just A Show by Chris Piuma and Charlotte Wells (and Adam Clarke and Beth Martin)

      It’s Just A Show

      48 Listeners

      This Is Your Mixtape by Michael Collins

      This Is Your Mixtape

      10 Listeners

      You’re Not Funny by Adam Clarke and Chris Piuma

      You’re Not Funny

      1 Listeners

      And Thereby Hangs A Tale by Adam Clarke

      And Thereby Hangs A Tale

      1 Listeners

      The Opposite Of Lonely by Nadia Halim

      The Opposite Of Lonely

      0 Listeners

      The Scene of the Scene by Megaphonic

      The Scene of the Scene

      0 Listeners

      A Part Of Our Scare-itage by Adam Clarke and Sarah Chamberlain

      A Part Of Our Scare-itage

      7 Listeners

      Dear Reader by Michael Collins and Emily Gushue Whalen

      Dear Reader

      1 Listeners

      By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien by Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

      By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

      29 Listeners

      The Ancients by History Hit

      The Ancients

      3,013 Listeners

      HubrisWeen! by S Frost and Tim Lehnerer

      HubrisWeen!

      0 Listeners

      Maintenance Phase by Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes

      Maintenance Phase

      16,367 Listeners

      The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

      The Ezra Klein Show

      15,237 Listeners

      Game Show 1939! by Chris Piuma and Michael Collins

      Game Show 1939!

      2 Listeners