Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid

Maggie Kilgour

Classical Presences

A detailed comparative study on Milton and Ovid.
Focuses on Ovid's influence on Renaissance writers.

Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid

Maggie Kilgour

Description

Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid contributes to our understanding of the Roman poet Ovid, the Renaissance writer Milton, and more broadly the transmission and transformation of classical traditions through history. It examines the ways in which Milton drew on Ovid's oeuvre, as well as the long tradition of reception that had begun with Ovid himself, and argues that Ovid's revision of the past, and especially his relation to Virgil, gave Renaissance writers a model for their own transformation of classical works. Throughout his career Milton thinks through and with Ovid, whose stories and figures inform his exploration of the limits and possibilities of creativity, change, and freedom.

Examining this specific relation between two very individual and different authors, Kilgour also explores the forms and meaning of creative imitation. Intertexuality was not only central to the two writers' poetic practices but helped shape their visions of the world. While many critics seek to establish how Milton read Ovid, Kilgour debates the broader question of why does considering how Milton read Ovid matter? How do our readings of this relation change our understanding of both Milton and Ovid; and does it tell us about how traditions are changed and remade through time?

Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid

Maggie Kilgour

Classical Presences

Preface
Note on Editions
Introduction: Milton and the Renaissance Ovids
Milton's Ovidian Art
Some Other Renaissance Ovids
Ovid and Virgil
Beyond The Metamorphoses
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Devil
Chapter 1: Choosing Ovids (1)
Mastering the Arts of Allusion
First Flowers
Comus and the Translatio Ovidii
Chapter 2: Choosing Ovids (2)
More Ovids
Rereading Ovid's Rapes
Poet of the Year
It's About Time
Milton and the Passing of Time
Masquing Revolution
Chapter 3: Reflections of Narcissus
Forms of Change
Ovid's Original
Renaissance Narcissi
Milton's Original Copy
Falling, in Love
Chapter 4: Self-Consuming Artists
Milton Narcissus
Envy and Emulation
Ovidian Invidia
Milton and the Arts of Envy
Falling Poets
Sin and Her Originals
Conclusion: Famous Last Words
The Once and Future Milton
Ovid's Bad Readers
The Author as Reader
The Anxiety of Reception
Reading Samson Agonistes
A Phoenix Too Frequent
'The last of me or no I cannot warrant'
Bibliography
Index

Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid

Maggie Kilgour

Classical Presences

Author Information

Maggie Kilgour is Molson Professor of English Language and Literature at McGill University where she teaches courses in Renaissance English literature, especially Milton, and the classical tradition. She is the author of two books, From Communion to Cannibalism: An Anatomy of Metaphors of Incorporation (1990) and The Rise of the Gothic Novel (1995).

Milton and the Metamorphosis of Ovid

Maggie Kilgour

Classical Presences

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the 2012 James Holly Hanford Book Award of the

"A rich and stimulating exploration of the implications of Milton's study of the Ovidian tradition for the substance and ambitions of his verse as a whole ... a suggestive general model of some of the ways in which poetry of the past is constantly given new life in the present."--Notes and Queries

"An intricate, thought-provoking study, rich with detail and numerous flashes of brilliant insight. ... [The author's] lively and engaging manner ensures that both students and scholars alike will find her book a pleasure to read. This fine study is a major achievement and a significant contribution both to Milton criticism and to the history of the reception of Ovid, one that opens up many promising avenues for further exploration."--The Classical Review

"Every chapter in Kilgour's book offers something valuable, and the whole is richly informative and thought-provoking."--Milton Quarterly

"A fine study of Milton and Ovid ... a skilfully woven work of criticism without a thread awry in its scholarly fabric."--Erick Ramalho, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"A major achievement ... as timely as other creative reinterpretations of Ovid today, and, though a scholarly work, belongs to the same rich field of our own transformations and interpretations of Ovid."--Goran Stanivukovic, Review of English Studies

"Many will welcome [the author's] occasional interjections of dry humor. Scholars of both classical and early modern literature and advanced graduate students should find this book essential to study of Milton's relationship to Ovid and other writers of antiquity."--Renaissance Quarterly