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Metamorphoses I
The first book of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" contains an interesting variety of material. It begins with myths related to the creation of the world and man, decline from the golden age, the flood and the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha. In the second half it deals primarily with two main metamorphosis myths - Apollo's love for Daphne and the story of Io.
Guy Lee's edition, first published by CUP in 1952, supplies a detailed commentary of explanatory notes (with useful index) and, separately, a number of critical notes on teh readings adopted by his text. the substantial introduction deals with Ovid himself, with the "Metamorhposes" and Ovid's other works; there is also a practical section on the Ovidian hexameter and, as one might expect from an editor who is himself a consummate translator of Latin poetry, a sensitive section on translations of the "Metamorphsoses" (especially Golding, Sandys and Dryden).
Guy Lee's edition, first published by CUP in 1952, supplies a detailed commentary of explanatory notes (with useful index) and, separately, a number of critical notes on teh readings adopted by his text. the substantial introduction deals with Ovid himself, with the "Metamorhposes" and Ovid's other works; there is also a practical section on the Ovidian hexameter and, as one might expect from an editor who is himself a consummate translator of Latin poetry, a sensitive section on translations of the "Metamorphsoses" (especially Golding, Sandys and Dryden).
- GenresPoetry
170 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 1991
15 people want to read
About the author
Ovid
2,905 books2,003 followersPublius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horatius, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.
Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology today.
Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology today.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 28, 2025
What kind of new year resolution is this, to read more Latin poetry? But it’s true. I’m running out of history, having read most of the surviving Livy, Sallust and Ammianus Marcellinus. I’ve also read quite a lot of other prose: Cicero’s speeches and letters, letters from Seneca and Pliny, some of Suetonius’s biographies. I’ve read all of Virgil and Catullus. I’ve Ovid’s Amores and Ars Amatoria and some of his other stuff but I’ve never tackled the Metamorphoses. So it’s about time.
This edition of Book I was published in 1952 and has a comprehensive introduction and notes by AG Lee. The blurb on the back notes that Guy Lee was an accomplished translator of Latin poetry and his comments on several famous translations of the Metamorphoses are insightful and helpful. He is also very good at pointing out the brilliance of Ovid’s poetry. One of the many fascinating points he makes is how the ancients did not look for originality in poetry (or much else). They expected their poets to echo the works of earlier poets in an allusive way, which is very different from outright plagiarism. One of life’s great pleasures for the ancient reader was to read a work of literature and be able to identify those echoes, savouring the subtle differences between the current work and the original. For example, the editor highlights similarities between this work and other works by Ovid as well as echoes from other Roman and Greek poets. TS Eliot had something to say about how the greatest poets shamelessly pillage earlier works.
The usefulness of the editor’s comments makes me reluctant to voice my perennial gripe about the Bristol Classical Press: that they keep recycling editions that were first published forty or more years ago without making any effort to update them with a bit of modern scholarship. Loeb still have some hundred-year-old editions but they seem to be making an effort to refresh some of their translations. Sadly, you have to assume that Bristol Classical Press have decided that the volume of sales do not justify commissioning an update.
Despite that, Bristol Classical Press also have editions of Books III and XI. I aim to read them in 2026 and for the remaining books I will rely on Loeb or Cambridge University Press.
This edition of Book I was published in 1952 and has a comprehensive introduction and notes by AG Lee. The blurb on the back notes that Guy Lee was an accomplished translator of Latin poetry and his comments on several famous translations of the Metamorphoses are insightful and helpful. He is also very good at pointing out the brilliance of Ovid’s poetry. One of the many fascinating points he makes is how the ancients did not look for originality in poetry (or much else). They expected their poets to echo the works of earlier poets in an allusive way, which is very different from outright plagiarism. One of life’s great pleasures for the ancient reader was to read a work of literature and be able to identify those echoes, savouring the subtle differences between the current work and the original. For example, the editor highlights similarities between this work and other works by Ovid as well as echoes from other Roman and Greek poets. TS Eliot had something to say about how the greatest poets shamelessly pillage earlier works.
The usefulness of the editor’s comments makes me reluctant to voice my perennial gripe about the Bristol Classical Press: that they keep recycling editions that were first published forty or more years ago without making any effort to update them with a bit of modern scholarship. Loeb still have some hundred-year-old editions but they seem to be making an effort to refresh some of their translations. Sadly, you have to assume that Bristol Classical Press have decided that the volume of sales do not justify commissioning an update.
Despite that, Bristol Classical Press also have editions of Books III and XI. I aim to read them in 2026 and for the remaining books I will rely on Loeb or Cambridge University Press.
Displaying 1 of 1 review