B.
Anti-Vergilian,
anti-Augustan Mock epic
1.
Principle of fluidityÑin content and form; no hero, shifting
perspectiveÑopposed to rigidity of imposed moral order
2.
Shifts between pathos and ironic distance; emphasis on details;
playing with narrative techniqueÑpoint of view, embedding of stories and its
significance
3.
Sarcasm and irony and pathos
4.
Gods as destructive and ridiculousÑÒmajesty and love donÕt
go hand in gloveÓ; theme of rapeÑSabine women in art of love; women love to
be raped
II.
Theme 1: Metamorphosis
or change
A.
Metamorphosis=change=physis
vs. nomos i.e. nature vs. law
1.
Tour de force of descriptionÑshapes transformingÑspecial effects;
transformer toys
2.
Heraclitus, EpicurusÑDiotimaÕs speechÑEcclesiastes
3.
Modern ideas of process, evolution, geological history
4.
contrast to Roman eternal Empire
B.
Opening
lines[unassigned]
1:1 Of bodies chang'd to various forms, I sing:
1:2 Ye Gods, from whom these miracles did spring,
1:3 Inspire my numbers with coelestial heat;
1:4 'Till I my long laborious work compleat:
1:5 And add perpetual tenour to my rhimes,
1:6 Deduc'd from Nature's birth, to Caesar's times.
1:7 Before the seas, and
this terrestrial ball,
1:8 And Heav'n's high canopy, that covers all,
1:9 One was the face of Nature; if a face:
1:10 Rather a rude and indigested mass:
1:11 A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unfram'd,
1:12 Of jarring seeds; and justly Chaos nam'd.
É
1:18 But earth, and air, and water, were in one.
1:19 Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable,
1:20 And water's dark abyss unnavigable.
1:21 No certain form on any was imprest;
1:22 All were confus'd, and each disturb'd the rest.
1:23 For hot and cold were in one body fixt;
1:24 And soft with hard, and light with heavy mixt.
1:25 But God, or Nature,
while they thus contend,
1:26 To these intestine discords put an end:
1:27 Then earth from air, and seas from earth were driv'n,
1:28 And grosser air sunk from aetherial Heav'n.
1:29 Thus disembroil'd, they take their proper place;
1:30 The next of kin, contiguously embrace;
É
1:87 Scarce had the Pow'r
distinguish'd these, when streight
1:88 The stars, no longer overlaid with weight,
1:89 Exert their heads, from underneath the mass;
1:90 And upward shoot, and kindle as they pass,
1:91 And with diffusive light adorn their heav'nly place.
1:92 Then, every void of Nature to supply,
1:93 With forms of Gods he fills the vacant sky:
1:94 New herds of beasts he sends, the plains to share:
1:95 New colonies of birds, to people air:
1:96 And to their oozy beds, the finny fish repair.
1:97 A creature of a more
exalted kind
1:98 Was wanting yet, and then was Man design'd:
1:99 Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
1:100 For empire form'd, and fit to rule the rest:
É
1:111 From such rude principles our form began;
1:112 And earth was metamorphos'd into Man.
C.
PythagorasÕ
speech on change in book XV [unassigned]
Thus all things are but alter'd,
nothing dies;
And here, and there th' unbody'd
spirit flies.
É
The soul is still the same, the
figure only lost:
And, as the soften'd wax new seals
receives,
This face assumes, and that impression
leaves;
É
So death, so call'd, can but the
form deface;
Th' immortal soul flies out in
empty space,
To seek her fortune in some other
place.
Then let not piety be put to flight,
To please the taste of glutton
appetite;
É
This let me further add, that
Nature knows
No stedfast station, but, or ebbs,
or flows:
Ever in motion; she destroys her
old,
And casts new figures in another
mold.
Ev'n times are in perpetual flux,
and run,
Like rivers from their fountain,
rowling on,
For time, no more than streams,
is at a stay;
The flying hour is ever on her
way:
And as the fountain still supplies
her store,
The wave behind impels the wave
before;
Thus in successive course the
minutes run,
And urge their predecessor minutes
on,
Till moving, ever new: for former
things
Are set aside, like abdicated
kings:
And every moment alters what is
done,
And innovates some act, 'till
then unknown.
É
Ev'n our own bodies daily change
receive,
Some part of what was theirs before,
they leave;
Nor are to-day, what yesterday
they were;
Nor the whole same to-morrow will
appear.
Time was, when we were sow'd,
and just began,
From some few fruitful drops,
the promise of a man:
Then Nature's hand (fermented
as it was)
Moulded to shape the soft, coagulated
mass;
And when the little man was fully
form'd,
The breathless embrio with a spirit
warm'd;
But when the mother's throws begin
to come,
The creature, pent within the
narrow room,
Breaks his blind prison, pushing
to repair
His stifled breath, and draw the
living air;
Cast on the margin of the world
he lies,
A helpless babe, but by instinct
he cries.
He next essays to walk, but downward
press'd
On four feet imitates his brother
beast:
By slow degrees he gathers from
the ground
His legs, and to the rowling chair
is bound;
Then walks alone; a horseman now
become,
He rides a stick, and travels
round the room.
In time he vaunts among his youthful
peers,
Strong-bon'd, and strung with
nerves, in pride of years,
He runs with mettle his first
merry stage,
Maintains the next, abated of
his rage,
But manages his strength, and
spares his age.
Heavy the third, and stiff, he
sinks apace,
And tho' tis down hill all, but
creeps along the race.
Now sapless on the verge of death
he stands,
Contemplating his former feet
and hands;
And, Milo-like, his slacken'd
sinews sees,
And wither'd arms, once fit to
cope with Hercules,
Unable now to shake, much less
to tear, the trees.
D.
The
Four Ages [assigned reading from website]ÑChange/metamorphosis as history
1.
Golden AgeÑAstraea, peace, prosperityÑthe pastoral world
a)
EdenÑinnocence; uncorrupted
reason; pursue goodÑpastoralÑlaw written in breast
b)
Negative forumula: no law,
judge, courtÑconscience ruled
c)
No sea voyaging
d)
No walls, drum, swordsÑpeace
e)
Both anti and pro-imperial
f)
Teeming earthÑno laboring
for foodÑimmortal springÑacorns and milk and honey
g)
pictures
2.
Silver Age
a)
Saturn banished; Jove rules
b)
Seasons appear; spring just
one season
c)
Climate changes; suns course
goes oblique; rough weather
d)
Primitive houses built;
agriculture begins
3.
BrazenÑBronze age
a)
Bloody rage, but not yet
impious
c)
4.
Iron Age
a)
Hard steel
b)
Truth, modesty, shame depart
replaced by fraud, avarice and force
c)
Ships builtÑImperium
d)
Landmarks and fences; private
property, no longer ownership in common
e)
Men go further than digging
in soil, search for goldÑrummaging her storeÑwhich gods had placed next to
hell
f)
Gold and steel; double death
g)
Weapons
h)
No hospitalityÑxenia
i)
Interfamilial strife; poison
and murder
j)
Faith flies, piety in exile
k)
Justice returns to heaven
5.
More historyÑthe flood [unassigned]
a)
Rebellious Giants attack
gods and gods take revenge
b)
Jupiter sends flood to wipe
out humanity and Pyrra and Deucalion are only survivors
III.
Theme 2: Love (In
the Ancient World) [Assigned reading in Norton text----pp. 1138-1161]
A.
General
1.
Even more prominent theme than change
2.
Compare to Ars Amoris
a)
love and power; love as
chase; love as strategy
3.
Rape stories:
a)
Why rape?
(1)
Classical misogynyÑwresting feminine power over sex and reproduction
(2)
combines sex and violenceÑsensationalism
(3)
power of loveÑirresistible in male, even brings down god; irresistible
in femaleÑphysical coercion
b)
our celebrity godsÑarnold,
clinton, kobe bryant, michael jackson, demi moore
B.
Apollo
and Daphne
1.
General
a)
No chronological connection
to what preceded
b)
LOVE storyÑApollonian is
supposedly form giving, but here it is subverted by its opposite--passion
c)
Things turned into other
things; reversing the orderly creation of Nature or god
(1)
People turning into animals and vegetables; the decay of order
2.
Narrative structureÑthat of story not logic or order
a)
Apollo and cupid
(1)
Love story; first of ApolloÕs loves; fostered by cupidÕs cruel
wrathÑrevenge and cruelty
(2)
Apollo swaggeringly mocks cupid while he strings bow, bragging
about his defeat of Python
(3)
Cupid, underdog vows to show him whoÕs stronger
(4)
Two shafts: sharp, golden one kindles love; lead dull one rejects
it
(5)
The arrows pierceÑthe piercing pleasure-pain of desire [Plato]Ñcf.
Daphnis and Chloe
b)
Daphne
(1)
desire to hunt, be free, be virgin, roam uncurbed
(2)
Father wants grandchildren, she begs for perpetual virginity;
he says your beauty wont permit it
c)
Apollo is lovestruck,
(1)
but [ironically] although god of oracles, reads the future
wrongly; he burnsÑlikes her uncombed hair [detail]Ñobsesses over beautiful
parts of her body that he sees and more over what he imagines
d)
The chaseÑfrom gaining speed
to slowing down; difference in tempo
(1)
She fleesÑher movement
(2)
He begs her to waitÑinsists he wont harm her
(3)
Worried sheÕll be scratched as she runs
(4)
Slow downÑ[she wants to be moving]
(5)
Tells her his resume
(6)
But admits cupid has shot him and he cant cure himselfÑall
his weaknessesÑhe talks a lot; she says nothing
(7)
Leaves him with Òhalf-done wordsÓ
(8)
His point of viewÑin flight sheÕs more fair
(9)
He closes inÑnext stageÑheÕs lost patience
(10)
Long simileÑhound chasing hareÑwe are in the race/chase
(11)
HeÕs at her shoulders now; she feels his breathÑher point of
view
(12)
She sees father and asks for transformation from beautiful
shape
(13)
We watch transformation
(a)
contrariesÑspeed to stasis; Òfeet
so keen to race before are now held fast by sluggish rootsÓ
(14)
All thatÕs left is radiance [!]
e)
The ending: frustration
and consolation
(1)
Everybody loses
(2)
As he holds and kisses the tree, Òit still shrinks from his
embraceÓÑlike Odysseus and Vergil with mother and Dido
(3)
Apollo still loves the tree and makes it eternal crown of victory
(4)
Tree nods as if to show consent
3.
Character
a)
Apollo: proud then humbled
repeatedlyÑby Cupid and Daphne
b)
DaphneÑwoman wanting freedom
from men, loving nature, getting free from men, but losing freedom of movement
(1)
Her beauty and attractionÑrefusal to accommodate father or
lover
c)
PeneusÑdesire and loss
4.
Theme
a)
Time and Eternity
(1)
Daphne as innocence and youth; freedom
(a)
It cant be possessed; it flees
(b)
that which is unseen is even better;
(c)
carpe diem of passage in Art of Love
(2)
but it can be memorializedÑthe green vs. red and white
(a)
youÕll never lose your beautyÑimmortality
b)
Love
(1)
mixture of pleasure and pain, humiliation and pride, loss and
victory
(2)
Love as chase, capture and loss
(3)
The lover and beloved [Plato]Ñhis talkiness; concern for her
beauty; relentlessness, her elusiveness and silence
(4)
BeautyÑits danger; persistence of beauty; irresistibility of
desire; incompatibility of desires
c)
Change, metamorphosis, transformation
(1)
Victory to defeatÑwinning race to losing goal; defeat to victory
(2)
SublimationÑfrom sex to aesthetics; body to symbol; tragic
loss; beauty left
d)
Metamorphosis as Metaphor
-- personification
(1)
shaking her crown Òas if to show consentÓÑbeauty of tree, of
personÑunpossessible beauty
(2)
Person as tree, river; tree as symbol
(3)
sign replaces realityÑthree stages
(4)
turns into languageÑÒrest on your laurelsÓ
5.
Metamorphosis into later versions; representations Òre-presentÓ--
imitatio; transformations into visual arts
h)
Sprigs of laurel; laurel
wreath
6.
Transition
C.
Io
and Jove
1.
Transition
a)
Relation of two storiesÑthis
one cruder, more brutal, funnier, but with a happy ending for all
b)
Landscape lovingly described
with Peneus river at centerÑDaphneÕs fatherÑriver as personÑhe mourns and
is comforted by other rivers
c)
Another mourning father
riverÑsearching for daughter and unable to find her; portent of Òthings devious
and dark.Ó
2.
Observations
a)
Power of love and jealousyÑrevenge
to mercy and redemption
b)
Descriptive emphasis on
transformation back to nymph and goddess
c)
Structure of rape, suffering,
and apotheosis
d)
Proud, lustful and stupid
masculine godsÑJuno as dominant wife; female dominance in story
e)
Theme of independent females
violated by men
3.
Jove [rather than Apollo] trying seductionÑthe Art of LoveÑthen
rape
a)
First with persuasive rhetoric--false protection
and self-praise, then with trapping her in fog, then with physical assault
4.
JunoÑthe jealous wife, looking for hubbyÑcomic blocking figure
5.
Jove is entrapped, after trapping Io [strategy]
a)
changes Io to cow to avoid
being caught
b)
Juno traps him into giving
her Io as gift
c)
His inner debateÑlove vs.
shameÑcalculation
6.
IoÕs ordeal
a)
Juno leaves Io under harsh
control of Argus
b)
Pathos intensifiedÑshe follows
father as cow; cant speak, then with hoof spells out her situation
c)
FatherÕs griefÑhe cant kill
himself because heÕs a godÑArgus treats her rough
7.
JoveÕs plan
a)
feels sympathy for her;
sends Mercury to kill Argus.
b)
Mercury masquerades as shepherd
and plays rustic pipes
c)
Argus falls in love with
the musicÑtrying to get Argus to let down guard of his watchful eyesÑasks
about invention of pipes
d)
Mercury tells story within
story [chiastic]
(1)
Syrinx, a devotee of chastity was pursued by many satyrs and
godsÉPan mistakes her for Diana
e)
Narrator breaks the story
of Mercury and tells the rest himself
(1)
She flees him, asks to be transformed to reeds, Pan sighs for
the loss across the reeds and produces musical lament, likes the sound, sees
it as way to converse with her and crafts a Syrinx [cf. Apollo and Daphne]
f)
Mercury sees Argus falling
asleep; chops off his head with hundred eyes
8.
JunoÕs revenge
a)
takes the eyes and puts them in the feathers
of her peacocks
b)
She takes revenge on IoÑa
fury to harrass her and drive the frightened girl across the world
9.
Resolution
a)
Io begs for release from
Jove, he begs his wife to relent
b)
Io morphs back into a girl
and then into a celebrated goddess Isis
c)
She bears Joves child Epaphus
D.
Europa
and Jove
1.
Appears at end of book 2, fifth rape story
2.
Seduction narrative; narrator observes that majesty and love
do not go hand in glove
a)
Jove has Mercury move herd
of cattle in Sidon to the beach.
b)
Jove renounces his solemn
sceptre and becomes a beautifully described white bull [Bull test]Éhe seems
so calmÑabsurdity of this descent
c)
Europa is intrigued by him,
he is so unthreateningÉshe approaches with flowers carefully [narration slows]
Ðhe restrains himself and kisses her hand, draws in the girl; description
of bull behavior;
d)
SheÕs not aware of what
he isÑall deceptionÑfeigned hoofsÑsneakily takes her out to sea
e)
Now sheÕs terrified, but
clings to him, the shore is far awayÉno clear conclusion
E.
Ceres
and Proserpina
1.
General
a)
Rape #4
b)
Embedded narratives
2.
The nine rude sisters
a)
Magpie sounds
b)
Nine sisters challenged
the muses to singing contestÑrudely, calling them frauds
c)
Muses think its shameful
to accept but also not to accept this challenge
d)
First sisterÕs song is of
the shameful cowardice of the gods who run away from the challenge of the
giantsÑspecifically Typhoeus--and disguise themselves as animals
3.
CalliopeÕs reply
a)
Minerva states eagerness
to hear museÕs song
b)
Song of Ceres tribute to
peace and law and prosperity
4.
Pluto shot by love
a)
Typhoeus trapped by mountains
under Sicily and writhesÑgood of vo lcanoes
b)
Lord description of Darkness
(pluto) worries that ground will split exposing underworld; comes above to
survey damage
c)
Venus tells cupid to shoot
himÑlove is again inexorable and more powerful than the godsÑshe wants to
take control of underworldÑwith machiavellian political analysisÑcompetition
between diana, minerva and venusÑbetween chastity and love
d)
Cupid shoots Pluto
5.
Abduction
a)
In a beautiful settingÑlocus
amoenusÑnear Enna in Sicily
b)
Proserpina was playing,
gathering flowers with her friends
c)
Pluto swept her off Òso
quickÓ
d)
She was terrified, tunic
ripped, flowers fell, she feels grief for them
6.
CyaneÕs protest
a)
Nymph of the straits Cyane
tells Pluto to ask for Proserpina, not rape her, stops him from passing, but
he strikes open the earth and goes underground
b)
Cyane nursed a woundÑfor
the rape and the violation of the waters of her pool.Ñshe weeps and dissolves
into its watersÑtransformation described in detail
7.
Ceres search for her daughter,
a)
is thirsty and given barley
water by an old woman whose boy tells her she is greedy is changed by her
into a starry newt
b)
Cyane dissolved cant tell
her what happened, but leaves girdle on surface as clue
c)
Angry ceres removes the
legendary fertility of Sicily;
d)
Arethusa tells Ceres that
when travelling through underworld and saw Proserpina enthroned there but
unhappy
e)
Ceres goes to heaven and
demands Jupiter release their daughter
8.
Ceres and Jupiter negotiate
a)
He says itÕs love, not injury
or robbery, defending his brother to save his own prestige
b)
Prosperpina could be returned
if she hadnt eaten, but Ascalapus saw her eat seven pomegranate seeds; heÕs
transformed by P. into a screech owl for indiscreet tongue
c)
Sirens were created from
the friends of Proserpina whoÕd searched for her and asked for wings to do
so, but were left their human voices
d)
Jupiter decides to divide
year into two portions and let P. back for one, making Ceres glad
9.
She returns to Arethusa to hear her story.
a)
She was nymph out hunting.
She was hot and slowly entered the water skinny dipping. Alpheus the river god falls for her, she tries to escape, he
chases her more inflamed by nakednessÑanother long chase, praying to Diana,
who covers her in cloud. He tries
to find her; she sweats and turns into a spring; he tries to mingle with her,
but Diana cracks the earth and she sinks in and comes out in Sicily
10.
Ceres goes to Athens and tells Triptolemus to spread her seeds.
a)
He flies to Scythia and
gives them to Lyncus who tries to murder him while he sleeps but is turned
by Diana into a Lynx, and Triptolemus escapes
11.
This is end of CalliopeÕs song; the losers shout insults and
are turned to magpies, the mocking dwellers in the woodsÉtheir endless need
for sharp, impulsive, harsh, derisive speech remains.
a)
Story of the seasons turns
into just a gambit for winning a squabble
b)
Tale telling is more important
than content of tale
IV.
Theme 3. Eternity
of art--contrast to perishability of nature [ShakespeareÕs theme in sonnets]
THE POET CONCLUDES
The work is finish'd, which nor
dreads the rage
Of tempests, fire, or war, or wasting
age;
Come, soon or late, death's undetermin'd
day,
This mortal being only can decay;
My nobler part, my fame, shall reach
the skies,
And to late times with blooming
honours rise:
Whate'er th' unbounded Roman power
obeys,
All climes and nations shall record
my praise:
If 'tis allow'd to poets to divine,
One half of round eternity is mine.
