SLL 103S Ovid Reading List

SLL 103S ‘Ovid & Ovidianism’ Section, READINGS

Wilkinson, L.P. Ovid Recalled (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1955) [shorter version of this book, Ovid Surveyed, is equally useful] (excellent chapters on Ovid’s Amores, Metamorphoses, and influence on English literature) 871.24 WILK

Martindale, Charles (ed.) Ovid renewed : Ovidian influences on literature and art from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1988)
820.9 OVID

Lerner, Laurence ‘Ovid and the Elizabethans’, in Martindale, Ovid Renewed, pp.121-135 (photocopies in Short Loan)

Taylor, A.B. (ed.) Shakespeare's Ovid: the Metamorphoses in the plays and poems (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) 822.334 SHAK

Rudd, Niall ‘Pyramus and Thisbe in Shakespeare and Ovid’ , in Taylor, Shakespeare's Ovid, pp.113-125 (photocopies in Short Loan)

Brown, Sarah Annes The metamorphosis of Ovid : from Chaucer to Ted Hughes (London : Duckworth, 1999) Chapters on ‘Ovid and Ovidianism: influence, reception, transformation’, pp.1-22; ‘ The metamorphosis of narrative: A Midsummer Night’s Dream...’, pp.57-84; ‘Carmen perpetuum: Ovid today’, pp.217-228 820.915 BROW

Hofmann, M. & Lasdun,J. (eds.)
After Ovid : new Metamorphoses (London : Faber & Faber, 1994) Contains poems by well-known contemporary poets (Carol Ann Duffy, Ted Hughes, Tom Gunn, Fleur Adcock, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley and many others), all inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses 871.22 META

Lyne, Raphael Ovid’s Changing Worlds: English Metamorphoses 1567-1632 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Martin, Christopher (ed.) Ovid in English (London: Penguin 1998) (selection of translations of Ovid into English, from Chaucer to the present.)

Hardie, Philip (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Ovid (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) (Many useful chapters, but especially ‘Part 3: Reception’ dealing with reception of Ovid from Middle Ages to 20th century.)

SLL 103S Tutorials 1- 6

You must attend both tutorials every week; be prepared to discuss the content of each tutorial and for the tutorials you choose to submit as one of your written assignments, to hand in your 1000 word piece at the beginning of the pertinent tutorial session.

SLL103S TUTORIALS 1 & 2




TUTORIAL 1:

[ See Handout ]



* * * * *



TUTORIAL 2:

a. Read Ovid Amores 1.13 (Reader page 2-3)
Identify what is particularly ‘Ovidian’ about the poem.

b. Read poem by Donne (Reader page 25)
In what ways is this poem similar to and different from Amores 1.13?


SLL103S TUTORIALS 3 & 4


TUTORIAL 3:

Read poem by Wilmot (Rochester) (Reader page 24a) In what ways is this poem similar to and different from Amores 3.7?








TUTORIAL 4 :

Carefully read through the extract from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on pages 10-24 of the Reader (together with the Footnotes). To what extent is Shakespeare following Ovid here, and to what extent is he pursuing his own poetic and dramatic concerns?


SLL103S TUTORIALS 5 & 6






TUTORIAL 5:

Closely compare the text of Ted Hughes’s ‘Pyramus & Thisbe ’ (Reader, pages 34-38) with Ovid’s version of the tale of Pyramus & Thisbe (Reader, pages 7-9). What has Hughes chosen to emphasise, to add, or to omit? And why?







TUTORIAL 6:

Carefully read through the poem ‘Mrs Midas’ by Carol Ann Duffy (Reader pages 38-39). What does this poem owe to Ovid’s version of the Midas story (Reader pages 6-7)? And in what ways has Duffy adapted Ovid’s story to her own purposes?

SLL103S Ovid Essay Questions

Choose one from among these three questions:

SLL 103S European Literary Influences


Topic I: Ovid & Ovidianism


Drawing from some of his works to illustrate your argument, explain what you think is meant by the ‘Ovidian’ and go on to show how he has influenced particular later works of your choice.


In what ways and for what purposes does Shakespeare transform Ovid’s tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream?


Closely compare Ted Hughes’ version of the story of Midas with the story of Midas in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Explain how and why Hughes has changed the story.


Due August 19th 2005 no later than 14h00 in the box marked SLL103S outside B203.



Ovid problems? See David van Schoor at B217
Consult his electronic noticeboard:
classicdavid.blogspot.com



David van Schoor