Synopses & Reviews
Ovid's epic poem, the Metamorphoses, and its great myths were a source of life-long inspiration to Shakespeare. This book provides a comprehensive examination of Shakespeare's use of the poem throughout his career: in early works such as Venus and Adonis and Titus Andronicus, works of the middle period such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, and the late plays such as The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Drawing on the expertise of leading international scholars, it also includes the first survey of twentieth century criticism and methodology in the field.
Review
"This well-edited collection is a welcome contribution to the renewed interest in Ovid in Renaissance studies and, particularly, in Shakespeare scholarship." Renaissance and Reformation
Review
"...the volume presents a coherent portrait of the elusive poet who inspired Francis Meres to describe Shakespeare as the Elizabethan Ovid...The anthology unquestionably profits from Taylor's efforts to place the contributors on speaking terms and reward the reader who wishes to consider the book's overall themes and methods...It is a volume that should be read..." Renaissance Quarterly
Review
"...very good on the historical context in which Shakespeare's reception of Ovid occirred...and it offers some fine analyses of Shakespeare's use of Ovidian language." Ingo Gildenhard, King's College London and Andrew Zissos, University of California at Irvine
Synopsis
A comprehensive examination of Shakespeare's use of Ovid's epic poem, Metamorphoses.
About the Author
Dr A. B. Taylor, formerly Dean of Humanities at the Swansea Institute, has published widely on Shakespeare and the Elizabethans in leading journals. Now a full-time writer, his other works include poetry, short stories and radio plays.
Table of Contents
Notes on contributors; List of abbreviations and note on the text; Introduction; Part I. The Background to Shakespeareâs Ovid: 1. Myths exploited: the metamorphoses of Ovid in early Elizabethan England Robert Maslen; 2. Ovid ârenascentâin Venus and Adonis and Hero and Leander John Roe; Part II. The Metamorphoses in the Plays and Poems: 3. âAnd love you âgainst the nature of loveâ: Ovid, rape, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona William C. Carroll; 4. Animals in âmanly shape as too the outward showeâ: moralizing and metamorphosis in Titus Andronicus A. B. Taylor; 5. Venus and Adonis and Ovidian indecorous wit Pauline Kiernan; 6. Ovid, Petrarch, and Shakespeareâs Sonnets Gordon Braden; 7. Pyramus and Thisbe in Shakespeare and Ovid Niall Rudd; 8. Niobe and the Nemean Lion: reading Hamlet in the light of Ovidâs Metamorphoses Yves Peyré; 9. The Winterâs Tale: Ovid transformed A. D. Nuttall; 10. Ovid, Golding, and the ârough magicâof The Tempest Raphael Lyne; 11. Ovidian v(o)ices in Marlowe and Shakespeare: the Actaeon variations François Laroque; Part III. Shakespeareâs Ovid in the Twentieth Century: 12. Shakespeareâs Ovid in the twentieth century: a critical survey John Velz; List of works cited; 13. Shakespeareâs Ovid, Ovidâs Shakespeare: a methodological postscript Charles Martindale; Index.