Hardly anything can be said about Ovid's Metamorphoses that does not mention the tremendous impact which it has had on the development of Western culture, art and literature. A veritable compendium of Greek and Roman mythology, Metamorphoses has also been regarded by many as providing the canonical versions of many of these ancient stories.
But this view of Ovid – as a sanctioned poet who presents the lore of Antiquity to us in a settled, orthodox form – does not do him justice. Metamorphoses is, if anything, a poem that constantly pokes fun at structure and stasis. And some of the best qualities of the poem, including its ingenuity, innovation, and irreverence, are the very same...
