GOAL: To build from familiarity with to analysis of the characterizations of mythological figures by Ovid. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: To build on Ovid’s representation of Greek mythological figures a) Read and identify the figures Daphne and Apollo, and b) Review notes, re-read story , and list and compare their characteristics and associations. *Be mindful of gender identifications and definitions, according to the text. OER Ovid’s Metamorphosis

GOAL: This short writing activity on your close-reading of “Orpheus and Eurydice” in Book X, Chapter 1 of Ovid’s Metamorphosis builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: Frank Bloom argues that Ovid’s version of Orpheus shows the consequences of the human/nonhuman binary, which privileges humans over the nonhuman. A close reading of Orpheus also can inform us on today’s sustainability policies that uphold the ideological value system of privileging human over the nonhuman. Taken to the extreme, “the ideological underpinnings of sustainability serve to reinforce the hierarchical configuration that privileges human over nonhuman” (Bloom). OER Metamorphosis by Ovid

THE ARGUMENT. [I.1-4]

My design leads me to speak of forms changed into new bodies.[1]
Ye Gods, (for you it was who changed them,) favor my attempts,[2] and bring
down the lengthened narrative from the very beginning of the world,
{even} to my own times.[3]

BOOK THE TENTH.
FABLE I. [X.1-85]

Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, while sporting in the fields, with
other Nymphs, is bitten by a serpent, which causes her death. After
having mourned for her, Orpheus resolves to go down to the Infernal
Regions in quest of her. Pluto and the Fates consent to her return,
on condition that Orpheus shall not look on her till he is out of
their dominions. His curiosity prevailing, he neglects this
injunction, on which she is immediately snatched away from him,
beyond the possibility of recovery. Upon this occasion, the Poet
relates the story of a shepherd, who was turned into a rock by a
look of Cerberus; and that of Olenus and Lethæa, who were transformed into stones.

Thence Hymenæus, clad in a saffron-coloured[1] robe, passed through the
unmeasured tract of air, and directed his course to the regions of the
Ciconians[2], and, in vain, was invoked by the voice of Orpheus.
He presented himself indeed, but he brought with him neither auspicious
words, nor joyful looks, nor {yet} a happy omen. The torch, too, which
he held, was hissing with a smoke that brought tears to the eyes, and as
it was, it found no flames amid its waving. The issue was more
disastrous than the omens; for the newmade bride, while she was
strolling along the grass, attended by a train of Naiads, was killed,
having received the sting of a serpent on her ankle.

After the Rhodopeïan bard had sufficiently bewailed her in the upper
{realms of} air, that he might try the shades below as well, he dared to
descend to Styx by the Tænarian gate, and amid the phantom inhabitants
and ghosts that had enjoyed the tomb, he went to Persephone, and him
that held these unpleasing realms, the Ruler of the shades; and touching
his strings in concert with his words, he thus said, “O ye Deities of
the world that lies beneath the earth, to which we {all} come {at last},
each that is born to mortality; if I may be allowed, and you suffer me
to speak the truth, laying aside[3] the artful expressions of a
deceitful tongue; I have not descended hither {from curiosity} to see
dark Tartarus, nor to bind the threefold throat of the Medusæan monster,
bristling with serpents. {But} my wife was the cause of my coming; into
whom a serpent, trodden upon {by her}, diffused its poison, and cut
short her growing years. I was wishful to be able to endure {this}, and
I will not deny that I have endeavoured {to do so}. Love has proved the
stronger. That God is well known in the regions above. Whether he be so
here, too, I am uncertain; but yet I imagine that even here he is; and
if the story of the rape of former days is not untrue, ’twas love that
united you {two} together. By these places filled with horrors, by this
vast Chaos, and by the silence of these boundless realms, I entreat you,
weave over again the quick-spun thread {of the life} of Eurydice.
“To you we all belong; and having staid but a little while {above},
sooner or later we {all} hasten to one abode. Hither are we all
hastening. This is our last home; and you possess the most lasting
dominion over the human race. She, too, when, in due season she shall
have completed her allotted {number of} years, will be under your sway.
The enjoyment {of her} I beg as a favour. But if the Fates deny me this privilege in behalf of my wife,
I have determined that I will not return. Triumph in the death of us both.”

As he said such things, and touched the strings to his words, the
bloodless spirits wept. Tantalus did not catch at the retreating water,
and the wheel of Ixion stood still, {as though} in amazement; the birds
did not tear the liver {of Tityus}; and the granddaughters of Belus
paused at their urns; thou, too, Sisyphus, didst seat thyself on thy
stone. The story is, that then, for the first time, the cheeks of the
Eumenides, overcome by his music, were wet with tears; nor could the
royal consort, nor he who rules the infernal regions, endure to deny him
his request; and they called for Eurydice. She was among the shades
newly arrived, and she advanced with a slow pace, by reason of her wound.

The Rhodopeïan hero receives her, and, at the same time, {this}
condition, that he turn not back his eyes until he has passed the
Avernian vallies, or else that the grant will be revoked. The ascending
path is mounted in deep silence, steep, dark, and enveloped in deepening
gloom. And {now} they were not far from the verge of the upper earth.
He, enamoured, fearing lest she should flag, and impatient to behold
her, turned his eyes; and immediately she sank back again. She, hapless
one! both stretching out her arms, and struggling to be grasped, and to
grasp him, caught nothing but the fleeting air. And now, dying a second
time, she did not at all complain of her husband; for why should she
complain of being beloved? And now she pronounced the last farewell,
which scarcely did he catch with his ears; and again was she hurried
back to the same place.

No otherwise was Orpheus amazed at this twofold death of his wife, than
he who, trembling, beheld the three necks[4] of the dog, the middle one
supporting chains; whom fear did not forsake, before his former nature {deserted him},
as stone gathered over his body: and {than} Olenus,[5]
who took on himself the crime {of another}, and was willing to appear
guilty; and {than} thou, unhappy Lethæa, confiding in thy beauty;
breasts, once most united, now rocks, which the watery Ida supports.
The ferryman drove him away entreating, and, in vain, desiring again to
cross {the stream}. Still, for seven days, in squalid guise[6] did he
sit on the banks without the gifts of Ceres. Vexation, and sorrow of
mind, and tears were his sustenance. Complaining that the Deities of
Erebus[7] were cruel, he betook himself to lofty Rhodope, and Hæmus,[8]
buffeted by the North winds. The third Titan had {now} ended the year
bounded by the Fishes of the ocean;[9] and Orpheus had avoided all
intercourse with woman, either because it had ended in misfortune to
him, or because he had given a promise {to that effect}. Yet a passion
possessed many a female to unite herself to the bard, {and} many a one
grieved when repulsed. He also was the {first} adviser of the people of
Thrace to transfer their affections to tender youths; and, on this side
of manhood, to enjoy the short spring of life, and its early flowers.

[Footnote 1: _Saffron-coloured._–Ver. 1. This was in order to be dressed in a colour similar to that of the ‘flammeum,’ which was a veil of a bright yellow colour, worn by the bride. This custom prevailed among the Romans, among whom the shoes worn by the bride were of the same colour with the veil.]
[Footnote 2: _Ciconians._–Ver. 2. These were a people of Thrace, near the river Hebrus and the Bistonian Lake.]
[Footnote 3: _Laying aside._–Ver. 19. ‘Falsi positis ambagibus oris,’ is rendered by Clarke, ‘Laying aside all the long-winded fetches of a false tongue.’]
[Footnote 4: _The three necks._–Ver. 65. There was a story among the ancients, that when Cerberus was dragged by Hercules from the Infernal Regions, a certain man, through fear of Hercules, hid himself in a cave; and that on peeping out, and beholding Cerberus, he was changed into a stone by his fright. Suidas says, that in his time the stone was still to be seen, and that the story gave rise to a proverb.]
[Footnote 5: _Olenus._–Ver. 69. Olenus, who was supposed to be the son of Vulcan, had a beautiful wife, whose name was Lethæa. When about to be punished for comparing her own beauty to that of the Goddesses, Olenus offered to submit to the penalty in her stead, on which they were both changed into stones.]
[Footnote 6: _In squalid guise._–Ver. 74. ‘Squallidus in ripa–sedit,’ is rendered by Clarke, ‘He sat in a sorry pickle on the bank.’]
[Footnote 7: _Erebus._–Ver. 76. Erebus was the son of Chaos and Darkness; but his name is often used to signify the Infernal Regions.]
[Footnote 8: _Hæmus._–Ver. 77. This was a mountain of Thrace, which was much exposed to the North winds.]
[Footnote 9: _Fishes of the ocean._–Ver. 78. ‘Pisces,’ ‘the Fishes,’ being the last sign of the Zodiac, when the sun has passed through it, the year is completed.]

EXPLANATION

Though Ovid has separated the adventures of Orpheus, whose death he does not relate till the beginning of the eleventh Book, we will here shortly enter upon an examination of some of the more important points of his history.

As, in his time, Poetry and Music were in a very low state of perfection, and as he excelled in both of those arts, it was said that he was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope; and it was added, that he charmed lions and tigers, and made even the trees sensible of the melodious tones of his lyre. These were mere hyperbolical expressions, which signified the wondrous charms of his eloquence and of his music combined, which he employed in cultivating the genius of a savage and uncouth people. Some conjecture that this personage originally came from Asia into Thrace, and suppose that he, together with Linus and Eumolpus, brought poetry and music into Greece, the use of which, till then, was unknown in that country; and that they introduced, at the same time, the worship of Ceres, Mars, and the orgies of Bacchus, which, from him who instituted them, received their name of ‘Orphica.’

Orpheus, too, is supposed to have united the office of high priest with that of king. Horace styles him the interpreter of the Gods; and he was said to have interposed with the Deities for the deliverance of the Argonauts from a dangerous tempest. It is thought that he passed some part of his life in Egypt, and became acquainted with many particulars of the ancient religion of the Egyptians, which he introduced into the theology of Greece. Some modern writers even go so far as to suggest that he learned from the Hebrews, who were then sojourning in Egypt, the knowledge of the true God.

His wife, Eurydice, dying very young, he was inconsolable for her loss. To alleviate his grief, he went to Thesprotia, in Epirus, the natives of which region were said to possess incantations, for the purpose of raising the ghosts of the departed. Here, according to some accounts, being deceived by a phantom, which was made to appear before him, he died of sorrow; but, according to other writers, he renounced the society of mankind for ever and retired to the mountains of Thrace. His journey to that distant country gave occasion to say, that he descended to the Infernal Regions. This is the more likely, as he is supposed to have there promulgated his notions of the infernal world, which, according to Diodorus Siculus, he had learned among the Egyptians. Tzetzes, however, assures us that this part of his history is founded on the circumstance, that Orpheus cured his wife of the bite of a serpent, which had till then been considered to be mortal; and that the poets gave an hyperbolical version of the story, in saying that he had rescued her from Hell. He says, too, that he had learned in Egypt the art of magic, which was much cultivated there, and especially the method of charming serpents.

After the loss of his wife, he retired to mount Rhodope, to assuage the violence of his grief. There, according to Ovid and other poets, the Mænades, or Bacchanals, to be revenged for his contempt of them and their rites, tore him in pieces; which story is somewhat diversified by the writers who relate that Venus, exasperated against Calliope, the mother of Orpheus, for having adjudged to Proserpine the possession of Adonis, caused the women of Thrace to become enamoured of her son, and to tear him in pieces while disputing the possession of him. An ancient author, quoted by Hyginus, says that Orpheus was killed by the stroke of a thunderbolt, while he was accompanying the Argonauts; and Apollodorus says the same. Diodorus Siculus calls him one of the kings of Thrace; while other writers, among whom are Cicero and Aristotle, assert that there never was such a person as Orpheus. The learned Vossius says, that the Phœnician word ‘ariph,’ which signifies ‘learned,’ gave rise to the story of Orpheus. Le Clerc thinks that in consequence of the same Greek word signifying ‘an enchanter,’ and also meaning ‘a singer,’ he acquired the reputation of having been a most skilful magician.

We may, perhaps, safely conclude, that Orpheus really did introduce the worship of many Gods into Greece; and that, possibly, while he promulgated the necessity of expiating crimes, he introduced exorcism, and brought magic into fashion in Greece. Lucian affirms that he was also the first to teach the elements of astronomy. Several works were attributed to him, which are now no longer in existence; among which were a Poem on the Expedition of the Argonauts, one on the War of the Giants, another on the Rape of Proserpine, and a fourth upon the Labours of Hercules. The Poem on the Argonautic Expedition, which now exists, and is attributed to him, is supposed to have been really written by a poet named Onomacritus, who lived in the sixth century B.C., in the time of Pisistratus.

After his death, Orpheus was reckoned in the number of Heroes or Demigods; and we are informed by Philostratus that his head was preserved at Lesbos, where it gave oracular responses. Orpheus is not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod. The learned scholar Lobeck, in his Aglaophamus, has entered very deeply into an investigation of the real nature of the discoveries and institutions ascribed to him.

GOAL: To gain experience with the subgenre of poetry ‘ecopoetry’. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of ‘interpreting’ a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: Jennifer Thorn’s article on Wheatley and Ovid’s Niobe argues that her version empowers mothers everywhere. Verify Thorn’s claim. Re-read “Niobe” in Ovid’s Book 6 of Metamorphosis, and then compare its representation of “Niobe” with Phillis Wheatley’s poem. How does Wheatley’s version of Niobe empower women, including Black women? Does Wheatley’s version offer an ecopoetics ideal that avoids or dismantles ‘otherness’?

GOAL: To gain experience with plot & the ‘forbidden love’ trope. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: In Book 4 Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisbe” is an example of the literary trope of ‘forbidden love’. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1597) parodies this trope in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1607), a trope also made popular by Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1961). Focus on Ovid’s version and write out the sequence of episodes of the plot of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” What drives the plot’s ‘conflict’?

When Pyramus and Thisbe, who were known
the one most handsome of all youthful men,
the other loveliest of all eastern girls,—
lived in adjoining houses, near the walls
that Queen Semiramis had built of brick
around her famous city, they grew fond,
and loved each other—meeting often there—
and as the days went by their love increased.

They wished to join in marriage, but that joy
their fathers had forbidden them to hope;
and yet the passion that with equal strength
inflamed their minds no parents could forbid.
No relatives had guessed their secret love,
for all their converse was by nods and signs;
and as a smoldering fire may gather heat,
the more ’tis smothered, so their love increased.

GOAL: To engage with performances and the epic to familiarize its form. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTION: Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 CE) is a written poetic narrative on Greek and Roman legends and mythology, while other collections of fables, like Aesop’s Fables and 1001 Nights, are compilations of stories from different regions and languages and religious doctrine with no identified author. Like the epic’s common form of en media res, folklore and its genres – tales, myth, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes – also share characteristics in form – of the narrative or poetry: character, setting, plot, protagonist, antagonist, irony, and theme.

FABLE XIV. [I.601-688]

Jupiter, having changed Io into a cow, to conceal her from the
jealousy of Juno, is obliged to give her to that Goddess, who commits
her to the charge of the watchful Argus. Jupiter sends Mercury with an
injunction to cast Argus into a deep sleep, and to take away his life.

EXPLANATION.

The story of the Metamorphosis of Io has been already enlarged upon in the Explanation of the preceding Fable. It may, however, not be irrelevant to observe, that myths, or mythological stories or fables, are frequently based upon some true history, corrupted by tradition in lapse of time. The poets, too, giving loose to their fancy in their love of the marvellous, have still further disfigured the original story; so that it is in most instances extremely difficult to trace back the facts to their primitive simplicity, by a satisfactory explanation of each circumstance attending them, either upon a philosophical, or an historical principle of solution.

GOAL: To practice ‘ecocritical readings in Ovid’s mythology, through textual analysis and poetic devices, and aspects of adaptation. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: On Orpheus and ecocriticism, Barry argues that “for the ecocritic, nature really exists, out there beyond ourselves, not needing to be ironised as a concept, but actually present as an entity which affects us, and which we can affect, perhaps fatally, if we mistreat it” (Barry qtd. Adler 11).

Work with Ovid’s version of Orpheus in Metamorphoses, 2) Choose two quotes that associates Orpheus with nature, and 3) Then, explain the representation of nature through this mythological figure, Orpheus. What do you learn? What questions do you have about the role of Orpheus in nature?

GOAL: To learn from modern poets whose works revise earlier creation and origin stories. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: Comparative Literature: Compare ekphrasis in the following two quotes:

FABLE VIII. [VII.794-865]

Procris, jealous of Cephalus, in her turn, goes to the forest, which
she supposes to be the scene of his infidelity, to surprise him.
Hearing the rustling noise which she makes in the thicket, where she
lies concealed, he imagines it is a wild beast, and, hurling the
javelin, which she has formerly given to him, he kills her.
Thus far {did he speak}; and {then} he was silent. “But,” said Phocus,
“what fault is there in that javelin?” {whereupon} he thus informed him
of the demerits of the javelin. “Let my joys, Phocus, be the first
portion of my sorrowful story. These will I first relate. O son of
Æacus, I delight to remember the happy time, during which, for the first
years {after my marriage}, I was completely blessed in my wife, {and}
she was happy in her husband. A mutual kindness and social love
possessed us both. Neither would she have preferred the bed of Jupiter
before my love; nor was there any woman that could have captivated me,
not {even} if Venus herself had come. Equal flames fired the breasts {of
us both}. The Sun striking the tops of the mountains with his early
rays, I was wont generally to go with youthful ardor into the woods, to
hunt; but I neither suffered my servants, nor my horses, nor my
quick-scented hounds to go {with me}, nor the knotty nets to attend me;
I was safe with my javelin.