Imagination in Motion: Ekphrastic Description in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Abstract
This dissertation analyzes ekphrastic episodes within Ovid’s Metamorphoses to show how ekphrasis serves as an ideal vehicle for the poem’s strongest message, namely, that the physical universe is mutable and unstable, and, therefore, poses existential risk to its inhabitants. Ovid’s use of ekphrasis, a figure that operates between the visual and the verbal, emphasizes the foundation of his in-text universe of perpetual change. This study works toward uncovering unity of meaning in Ovid’s epic poem by highlighting his conscious use of boundary-blurring ekphrasis as a rhetorical figure. Three categories of ekphrastic episodes within the poem are discussed: artefact, creative process, and space. These categories permit an inclusive definition of ekphrasis—text that brings the subject matter vividly before the eyes, turning the “reader” into a “viewer”—rather than limiting the study to art objects, as has been typical in literary and Classical scholarship since the eighteenth century. This dissertation argues that the complicated nature of ekphrasis mirrors Ovid’s chaotic text-world, as the poet’s written text immediately transforms into a mind’s eye picture. Thus, Ovid’s ekphraseis, which operate between the visual and the verbal, emphasize the foundation of his in-text universe of perpetual change. Further, the poet himself demonstrates awareness of the instability of the verbal-visual interface. Many of his ekphrastic scenes contain a didactic element, where Ovid shows his reader the power and danger these “false” images can pose.
Subject Area
Classical literature|Classical Studies|Literature
Recommended Citation
Andranovich, Nicole Marie, "Imagination in Motion: Ekphrastic Description in Ovid’s Metamorphoses" (2023). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30573150.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30573150
