'The Classical Inheritance' is part of my pre-reading list for English at Cambridge so, having already read Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, I elected to read Ovid's Metamorphoses. Tantalised by the introduction, that lauded its wit and fast pace and much else, I was keen to start. However, much like Homer's works, it is repetitive and as dry as old dog shit. I realise it's a terribly plebeian thing to say but I just dont get it - things happen, often for no reason, then someone is turned into a tree. Its very boring. What am I missing? How can I enjoy the Classics? I am inevitably going to have to study them, at least casually, so that I can recognise reference when and wherr it crops up. So what is that I should be looking for when I read this sort of stuff, what is there to appreciate?
(If you're an avid fan of the Classics please don't be offended by my rank philistinism, just tell me what it is you like about them/ what you look for)
I read The Iliad and The Odyssey and mainly just enjoyed both as engaging narratives tbph. Although they have appeal in other ways too- the historical sense, that these are ancient stories which have been told and retold and had enormous influence, and what I could call the anthropological sense- the feeling of contacting and trying to understand what is in many ways a very alien culture.
Brody Ramirez
The Classics are a backbone in Western society. These stories are referenced and retold even today, these works have endured so long that they're a part of the Culture without ever having to be specifically named by anyone. I'm surprised you find the Metamorphoses dry though, it's really lively--especially compared with other Classics. There's a lot of subtle details in it's episodic format as well that make it fun to read through over and over again.
When the Muses sing against the Pleiades notice how their audience is a bunch of nymphs. The Muses story (which is better on it's own) also features a rape which the nymphs would be sure to sympathize more with considering how often that befalls them (OP's pic related).
The Perseus Story is a complete farce of the Iliad. It's a story about violence, bloodshed, but it begins with an accident and ends with a an overpowered instrument that should have been used at the beginning.
As for the 'people turning into trees', The Metamorphoses was written with that in mind, it is "The Book of Changes" it chronicles myths and legends which all seem to have something or other to do with a change (physical, mental, symbolic). It's not a coincidence that all the famous myths are included here, Ovid is making a statement that nothing is static, and seeks to aestheticize these changes.
Jose Walker
best translation? w/ commentary
Luke Smith
I loved Mendelbaum's. Honestly sparknotes has really good analyses that I just read after finishing every chapter/book.
Anthony Bell
It isn't only about the events that happen. What's more important is the poetic relationship of concepts. Read it like the collection of classical allegories that it is, not some bed side fairy tale or adventure novel.
Carter Campbell
>OP isn't moved by the virgin Daphne's plea to be rescued from Apollo >OP didn't weep when she was turned into a laurel and shivered at Apollo's loving touch
How often in life do we run from love, or wish to be free of mortal fears? Tbhwyf what you are missing is a human heart.
Brody Jenkins
I read some Joseph Campbell and The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind before the Iliad/Odyssey/etc. They gave me a whole new way of engaging with the mythology, and made the classics very enjoyable.
Parker Barnes
>what you are missing is a human heart This.
Not only plebs have no interpretative ability, as they need a tutorial, then a tutorial to explain what the tutorial might mean, then a tutorial for the tutorial to the tutorial, and so on in a reverse hermeneutic spiral where no interpretation ever takes place - they have no soul.
I think it's too late for you, OP, the damage is done and there's no way to undo it. Do not blame yourself. Media and education programmed this into you, just hold fast to whatever potential remains, and stick to what you can do.
James Rivera
I found the Metamorphoses funny at times, heartbreaking many other times and very comfy overall--I don't even like that word so much and I hate the fact that I picked it from Veeky Forums but I find myself using it more often to qualify enjoyable reads, books that were a pleasure to read, even though they might have consisted of nothing but heart-breaking tragedy (it is not the case with the Metamorphoses). The poetry (in Melville's translation) flows like warm honey. The whole thing sounds like an effortlessly sung melody that the heart and mind struggle not at all to take in--though I did read slowly and reread the most emotional parts, just to let the words seep in. I wish I had the mind power to address the substance of the poem more than just the way it made me feel. Even so, I don't think that would help you very much, op. It probably boils down to this If you do not enjoy Homer from the first line, on your first read, other people dissecting their reasons for why they enjoyed him won't probably work out for you. I wouldn't be as harsh as that user though: you are young and there might still be hope for you. Try something else instead.
Kayden Rivera
I wouldn't say it's either of these specifically, but the things brought up in the Iliad won't mean anything to you until you've experienced something similar.
Like the scene where Odysseus kills the two brothers. It tells you about how they were raised by their grandfather and the first brother went to war immediately after the wedding, not even being with his wife, before being cut down. Then his brother's rage at his dead brother, before he is also slain by Odysseus, and it describes him being decapitated over his brother's corpse, and how their father now has no sons.
Unless you had someone you deeply care about, who makes every day brighter and better just by being with you, and then one day having them permanently removed from your life and knowing that you will never, ever see or hear them again, then the above won't strike you much. But if you've felt that loss or if you're a parent with your own children, then the prose about the brothers will have a great deal more meaning and impact for you. Otherwise it's just 'oh, some guys died, whatever.'
I think with a lot of the classics, they can't truly be appreciated until you reached a certain amount of life experience. They are pushed on the young because they contain great wisdom, but often students aren't ready to understand the wisdom being shown to them.
As for my enjoyment of the Iliad, I enjoy the prose and especially the similes and metaphors.
Carter Martinez
>Otherwise it's just 'oh, some guys died, whatever.' Such are the great teachings of the news.
>often students aren't ready to understand the wisdom being shown to them. Absolutely.
Camden Sanchez
This is amazing. Thank you. So much. The first book Veeky Forums has ever suggested to me.
Chase Bennett
Would you be willing to share your pre-reading list with a wage-earner pleb?
I'm new to the classics - too new to have a say really. I've read Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, Sophocles's Oedipus Rex, and Apollodorus's Bibliotheca. With that said, I enjoy the symbolic nature of the tales, the poetic prose, the antique language, and the stories themselves. I find them deeply moving and engaging.
I'm not sure how to whet your appetite for them, but take solace in how much more you will get out of the literary and artistic traditions from simply familiarizing yourself with these tales.
Liam Ward
Nevermind my request.
I did a bit of Googling and found it is actually quite easy to find the reading lists of top-tier universities.
Thank you, regardless, for setting me on track to find them through your inquiries.
Jayden Rodriguez
Any one in particular you find is good? I found kings.cam.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/subjects/classics.html#reading but the ones after the first part are all written by modern writers on classicism and classical history. Shakespeare is the only *nglo I would read to supplement my classical studies.
I've read most of the ones in part I except Tacitus and maybe Juvenal. I have complete Virgil.
Tyler Wilson
Classics major here, I understand what you mean. Many classical works do feel dry and irrelevant (although I think everyone can find something that clicks with them). It usually takes a certain degree of imagination along with anthropological/historical study in order to appreciate what you are reading.
Reading in translation, you will profit most by paying attention to how Ovid uses myth as a vehicle for his psychological insights. Among his literary peers, I find him most astute in this area. This isn't too surprising, since he was a real urbanite and loved the bustling atmosphere of Rome. You can try to think of the book not as a stale collection of myth, but in light of Ovid's personality. Think about Ovid's general statements he makes about change compared to his claims in the epilog about his own ideas about what it means to be a poet.
Hopefully you have your hands on a copy of the Humphries edition.
William Williams
>just tell me what it is you like about them
The unbelivable power of the language hitherto unmatched in literature, it's music it's thunder it's just something else man, you have to read it out loud/sing it like it's meant to be and you'll never want to read something else Even if you don't undestand what is beeing said just listen to the first minute or so, listen to the sound, and tell me that's not divine poetry youtu.be/Xg-2IWGzkj4?t=31
Jordan Stewart
>but the ones after the first part are all written by modern writers on classicism and classical history. How can you possibly be surprised by the fact that present-day training in classical scholarship involves reading contemporary scholars of the classics?
>Shakespeare is the only *nglo I would read to supplement my classical studies Wut.
Aiden Morales
Hey OP. Greek and Latin lit is important, but these books are more important for English literature in particular. You'll yield more return on essays and future reading if you spend some time with these books first. Obviously 3 of the 4 aren't exactly light reading, but they're worth some knowledge because they are probably referred to the most of any English classics.
Xavier Miller
I'm not OP, but English majors at Cambridge have to study portions of the Bible, and are encouraged to read all of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Milton and Buchanan are also well known. They are both on the fabled five-foot shelf after all.
Hudson Martinez
Some things you have to power through and some things just never seem to click. I had difficulties with reading classical literature for a bit and I'm still quite often confused about what exactly I'm reading right now and what the significance of it is, but I started to get really into it. While I was completely lost for a while in the beginning of the Iliad without knowing much about Greek culture or mythology, it really grew on me and the poetic words started to flow like honey. Some books though I don't think I will ever be able to read/like. I absolutely despise modernist writers like DH Lawrence. Sons and Lovers just reads a lot like ramblings of some latent homosexual. Likewise I just can't get into Shakespeare.
tl;dr: Just read what you enjoy
Oliver Ramirez
In other words, your reading experience was entirely tainted by a crack-pot's theory.
Julian Lopez
You're not really going to get the classics without at least a cursory understanding of ancient Greek/Roman culture. They just don't read terribly well through a modern lens. You need to understand what the myths meant to people at the time before you can translate them to a modern perspective.
