Metamorphoses: A New Verse Translation

‘Still remarkably vivid. It is easier to read this for pure pleasure than just about any other ancient text’ Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

Ovid’s sensuous and witty poem begins with the creation of the world and brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation – often as a result of love or lust – where men and women find themselves magically changed into extraordinary new beings. Including the well-known stories of Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy, the Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists from Shakespeare and Chaucer to Picasso and Ted Hughes. This translation by David Raeburn is in hexameter verse, which brilliantly captures the energy and spontaneity of the original.

Translated by DAVID RAEBURN with an Introduction by DENIS FEENEY