The word “Metamorphosis” itself interests me. Before even knowing what this text was about, I thought perhaps it was an epic about a drastic characteristic change of a person, or even a change of heart in regards to something. Although this may not necessarily be true, the theme of change seems to jump out at the reader right away, when Ovid describes the creation of the world and how it changed over time. As I read the first time through, what stuck out to me was Ovid’s knowledge of world geography. For example, pp 1078, lines 68 – 71 seems to explain weather patterns on the planet. “Heat makes the middle zone unlivable, and the two outer zones are deep in snow; between these two extremes, he placed two others of temperature climate, blending cold and warmth.” At this point in time, how advanced was education? How did the ancient greeks know what the climate was around the Earth without having any sort of technology to make those observation? It brings me back to what Professor Peer had said earlier in the semester, that ancient societies may have been more advanced than us in certain aspects.

I also found myself questioning why Ovid had decided to not acknowledge the Gods by name during The Creation story. When speaking of the Gods, Ovid instead wrote passages such as “Some god (or kinder nature)” and “Now when that god (whichever one it was).” Did Ovid not really have as much respect for the gods as one might usually have? He is described before the reading as a person who didn’t seem afraid to challenge norms of society, so this would make sense. This is quite a contrast from previous readings we have done, such as The Odyssey, where Homer seems to have high praise for all the gods. One may be led to believe that Ovid did not want to mention the gods by name in the creation story because he did not want the focus of his poem to be about how glorious the gods are, but about how glorious his writing would be.

As far as the story of Apollo and Daphne, it was quite hard to follow. It took about four read-throughs to finally grasp what was going on in that portion, due to all the back-and-forth dialogue. The moment on pp 1082 where Daphne is changed into a tree absolutely puzzles me. Why did the gods transform her into a tree? I understand she is trying to avoid Apollo, but I could not understand why a tree was used in this moment. What is the significance of a tree, what could it symbolize? It is such a vivid scene, Ovid really spends time putting an image of the moment in the reader’s head. It seems to me as it is too important of a moment to not mean anything more.

Additionally, I am still left here wondering why Cupid made Apollo fall in love with Daphne. It is clear that Cupid is mad at Apollo for questioning as to why Cupid has a bow, but why does Cupid respond by making Apollo fall in love with Daphne, and make Daphne want nothing to do with him? Could it possibly be because Cupid wanted to get back at Apollo by seeing him fall in love with somebody that won’t love him back?