The Poetics of Geography in Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Abstract

Geography—in the sense of representations of the physical world—plays a major role in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a poem as expansive in space as it is in time. Geographical themes extend throughout the poem, which begins with cosmogony and ends with poetic immortality underpinned by the spaces of the Roman empire. In Ovid’s verses we find expansive views of the oikoumene and detailed journeys through its spaces; we find place names from the mythological to the contemporary, from the esoteric to the commonplace; and we find poetic landscapes loaded with symbolic meaning. My first chapter explores perceptions and representations of space. I argue for a metaliterary reading of the tension between two conceptual modes of perceiving and representing space: the cartographic viewpoint, represented by mapping and by the ‘god’s-eye’ view from a high place, and the hodological viewpoint, in which a linear, sequential presentation of space is foregrounded. I argue that these contrasting viewpoints are both represented in the Metamorphoses and that they may be read as models for contrasting approaches to narrative. Ultimately, Ovid presents a synthesis in the form of his narratives of flight. My second chapter addresses place, as represented through place names. I argue that Ovid’s use of toponyms sheds light on his poetics: the places of the Metamorphoses are sites of generic negotiation, poetic self-fashioning and metapoetic reflection. Place names also contribute to Ovid’s structural and narrative strategies, serving as ‘signposts’ along the reader’s journey through the poem. My third chapter discusses landscape as aestheticised and acculturated space, exploring the interplay of landscape, gender and genre. I argue that gender is an important aspect of Ovid’s representation of landscape, and that the gendered landscapes of the Metamorphoses are important for our understanding of Ovid’s approach to both gender and genre. Through the triple lens of space, place and landscape, this thesis aims to achieve an overview of Ovid’s metapoetic geographies and to demonstrate the value of a geographic reading to our understanding of the poem.