Product Description

The first and still the best modern verse translation of the Metamorphoses, Humphries' version of Ovid's masterpiece captures its wit, merriment, and sophistication.

Everyone will enjoy this first modern translation by an American poet of Ovid's great work, the major treasury of classical mythology, which has perennially stimulated the minds of men. In this lively rendering there are no stock props of the pastoral and no literary landscaping, but real food on the table and sometimes real blood on the ground.

Not only is Ovid's Metamorphoses a collection of all the myths of the time of the Roman poet as he knew them, but the book presents at the same time a series of love poems--about the loves of men, women, and the gods. There are also poems of hate, to give the proper shading to the narrative. And pervading all is the writer's love for this earth, its people, its phenomena.

Using ten-beat, unrhymed lines in his translation, Rolfe Humphries shows a definite kinship for Ovid's swift and colloquial language and Humphries' whole poetic manner is in tune with the wit and sophistication of the Roman poet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11328 in Books
• Published on: 1960-01-01
• Original language: Latin
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 401 pages

Review
" . . . a charming and expert English version, which is right in tone for the Metamorphoses." -- Francis Fergusson

"...a work of the highest quality which provides pleasure and information in generous measure." -- JACT Review

"This new Ovid, fresh and faithful, is right for our time and should help to restore a great reputation." -- Mark Van Doren

"This translation will quickly establish itself as _the_ transation for English speaking readers and students of this great Augustan epic." -- Dr. A.H.F. Griffin, University of Exeter

Review

"Notes are very helpful indeed."--L. Cahoon, Gettysburg College
"Of the English translations now available, Melville's new version is the only that reproduces the grace, speed, and nervous tension of Ovid's original. It is a rare achievement."--Richard P. Martin, Princeton University
"An excellent translation, elegant and accurate."--Simone Turbeville, University of Texas, Arlington
"Melville has chosen blank verse, pleasantly varied by rhymed couplets to round off each sequence. His narrative is taut...his vocabulary vivid and flexible, his speeches pungent or powerful, and his command of wit a delight."--Classical Review
"If Ovid wanted to read himself in English, he should certainly be happy with Melville's translation, which eloquently captures a great deal of his urbanity, wit, and sentiment in an expressive blank verse that is itself a bit of a wonder."--Thomas Clayton, Chairman, University of Minnesota
"The translation is readable and tells the tales with charm, and the notes are truly excellent."--Carol R. Hershenson, Xavier University
"Excellent poetic rendition, at reasonable price. Thank you. I shall order a whole library of Oxford World's Classics."--Dr. Barbara Huval, Lamar University
"Reads compellingly--as Ovid should. Students enjoy [this work] greatly."--Ann Lauinger, Sarah Lawrence College
"I like this translation very much. I used it this semester and will continue to use it."--Gregory M. Malion, University of New Hampshire
"I shall regularly adopt this edition to use in my mythology class. It is the best paperback edition around: readable translations, episodes have titles, glossary and original line numbers on top of page."--Cliff Brockman, St. John Fisher College

Language Notes
Text: English, Latin (translation)

Customer Reviews

Beware: Reviews Discuss Wildly Disparate Works
The five stars are for Ovid. This note discusses the Indiana University Press edition of Rolfe Humphries' translation of the _Metamorphoses_.

Humphries provides a clear, workmanlike translation.

So far as I can tell, of all the editorial reviews and customer reviews currently (9/11/04) displayed on the page for Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, only the customer review posted by "elemental master" clearly refers to the Humphries translation.

The _editorial_ reviews describe a Cambridge University Press _Latin_ edition containing only Book Thirteen. Humphries' translation includes all fifteen books, of course. Several customer reviews evaluate books containing translations by Dryden, Innes, and Melville. Often, it is not possible to determine which translation a reviewer is considering. The work offered for sale on the page for Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ contains only Humphries' translation.

In short, shoppers should be aware that the reviews displayed on the page for Rolfe Humphries' translation of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ actually discuss wildly disparate works; most of them have little or nothing to do with the book being offered for sale.

"Of bodies...changed...to other forms, I tell..."
This edition is published by Oxford University Press and is translated from the Latin into English prosody by A. D. Melville, who was "a scholar of King's College, Cambridge [!!], where he gained a double First in Classics...."

To my mind, this is the best of the English translations available at this site. The format is poetic...as it should be, I believe...which means that the reader will have to adjust (change) his usual perceptive modes...go slower... follow the thought from line to line...as if tracking some wondrous mythic figure through a forest of sparkling silvery leaves...and flickering flashes of sunlight... There is an excellent "Introduction" as well as a truly insightful "Translator's Note"...one can tell the quality of the mind which worked on this translation from a quote from the "Introduction": "This it may be suggested is the point of a passage of the *Metamorphoses* that has puzzled some critics and bored others ...the great speech of Pythagoras. What is formally a long digression is accommodated to the argument of the poem with great skill bridging the long interval between Numa and Augustus and achieving a climax on a theme that informs and dominates the whole book: apotheosis, divinization, the supreme change to which human beings can aspire. The speech turns on the premiss[sic] that in all the constantly changing universe one thing remains unchanged, *anima*, the soul [Melville's translation of the lines follows...] our souls/ Are still the same for ever, but adopt/ In their migrations ever-varying forms.../ We too ourselves, who of this world are part,/ Not only flesh and blood, but pilgrim souls.../ (Book XV)

This following quote from the "Translator's Note" shows Melville's acute sensitivity to the poetic and expressive possibilities of both English and Latin: "English has one great advantage over Latin--its vocabulary is so much larger. A translator may often have three or four words where Ovid has only one; and these three or four will all be subtly [see the fine quality of insight and understanding...and care?]different. Conversely he can often express in one apt word [T. S. Eliot would have appreciated that fine understanding...]a meaning for which Ovid needs several. * * * Latin has two great advantages over English--its incomparable sonority [acute sensitivity to language and word sounds, also...]and the freedom of its word-order. While both languages share many of the artifices of literary composition, the music of Latin in the hands of a master is suprreme. In English the order of words in a sentence is fixed within narrow limits, but the variety of position which Latin allows makes possible effects which English often cannot achieve. Nevertheless the translator must be alert to those effects and do his best to reproduce them." [such fine understanding and sensitivity also show up in the poetic translation...]

I have also looked at the Penguin Classics prose translation by Mary M. Innes, and while it is indeed a workmanlike translation, I much prefer Melville's translated poetics. A few lines might show the difference...here is Apollo lamenting over the body of his dead beloved Hyakinthos... first Innes...then Melville: "You are slipping away from me, Hyacinthus, robbed of the flower of your youth," said Phoebus. "Here before my eyes I see the wound that killed you and reproaches me. You are the cause of my grief, as of my guilt, for your death must be ascribed to my hand. I am responsible for killing you. Yet how was I at fault, unless taking part in a game can be called a fault, unless I can be blamed for loving you?" [trans. Mary Innes; Penguin Classics]

"My Hyacinth," Apollo cried, "laid low/ And cheated of youth's prime! I see your wound,/ My condemnation -- you...my grief and guilt!/ I, I have caused your death; on my own hand,/ My own, your doom is written. Yet what wrong/ Is mine, unless to join the game with you/ Were wrong, or I were wrong to love you well?"/ [trans. A.D. Melville; Oxford World Classics]

Superb Translation and Edition
This book is wonderful. The Rolfe Humphries is THE translation. This printing is also very nice. The paper, the type, everything makes it a good book. When you turn the page, it turns nicely and lies flat; how refreshing.

The stories of the Metamorphoses are, of course, wonderful. It's the book itself that I want to talk about.

The beautiful Waterhouse painting on the cover spans the front and part of the back covers. The line numbers at the top of each text page are those of the Latin text in the Loeb edition; how many translators would go to that kind of trouble for you? Rolfe Humphries' introduction is light, funny, and enjoyable. His love of his work shines through. The last line of his intro is, "So - here he is [Ovid], and I hope you like him."

The table of contents is annotated, making it easy to find any major story you are looking for. I also love the designs at the beginning of each book/chapter: such details enhance my enjoyment of reading this edition.

If you have never read Ovid's Metamorphoses, don't be intimidated. It is a collection of mythology stories, and you will find much that is probably familiar to you (Echo and Narcissus, Jason, Pygmalion, and more). If you are at all serious about literature, this is a basic building block in your knowledge. And even if you're not, it's just a damn good book.

The translation itself is so fluent and enjoyable. Just listen to the introduction:

My intention is to tell of bodies changed
To different forms; the gods, who made the changes,
Will help me - or so I hope - with a poem
That runs from the world's beginning to our own days.

This is exciting, eloquent stuff! Please do yourself a favor and make sure you read this at some point during your lifetime.