Shakespeare's Ovid

A comprehensive examination of Shakespeare's use of Ovid's epic poem, Metamorphoses.

Ovid's great poem, Metamorphoses, was a source of life long inspiration to Shakespeare. Here, experts offer a comprehensive examination of Shakespeare's use of the poem throughout his works from Venus and Adonis and Titus Andronicus, to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.Ovid's great poem, Metamorphoses, was a source of life long fascination and inspiration for Shakespeare. He drew on its great myths throughout his career: in early works like Venus and Adonis and Titus Andronicus, works of the middle period like A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, and late plays such as The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. This book provides a comprehensive examination of his use of Ovid's poem with contributions from international scholars. It begins by examining the use of Ovid's myth in early Elizabethan literature, a use dramatically changed by Marlowe and Shakespeare himself. It then offers detailed readings of Shakespeare's use of Ovid in a wide range of plays and poems, placing emphasis on several important but often underestimated features. The book also provides a survey of twentieth-century criticism and methodology in the field.