Context Essay:
When it comes to scale in religious texts, nothing comes close to that of the creation myth. In countless religions there is a story which establishes the fundamental principles of the world, its key deities, and an answer to the worshiper's question of how do we exist? In order to have a story that answers all of these questions, the author is going to have to break some literary and poetic conventions. Due to its scale and unique structure, the creation myth is entirely different from other more conventional stories. There is no central antagonist, or character arc: it entirely focuses on a simple yet grand act of creation, which Ovid shows through his unique meter. In most Latin poetry the spondee is used to emphasize certain syllables, as a way of indicating to the audience what parts of a story is most important. By choosing using a borderline excessive amount of spondees every syllable is emphasized, letting the audience know that, as the story which describes the worlds inception, every single foot of it is crucial. Additionally, like other creation myths, Ovid constructs his as a process of increasing complexity: we start with the creation of a simple earth which separates sea from sky, to the creation of more specific elements, and ultimately to the creation of Humans. This structure also means Ovid is unable to include what is often a defining trait of his work: a message to accompany a story's conclusion. Unlike tales like Narcissus or Baucis and Philemon, here Ovid has no final remarks on how to be a better person or stop bad behavior. Ultimately, Ovid sets this story apart through utilizing a unique structure, meter, and themes.
Artistic Analysis Essay:
Antonio Tempesta’s “The Creation of the World” is one of the rare artistic works to truly capture the spirit of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. More often than not (especially during the Renaissance and Baroque periods), interpretations of Ovid’s work was censored and made more appealing to contemporary sensibilities. I covered such a work in my previous Ovid Project on another story from the Metamorphoses, “The Raven”. In that work the artist had turned a dark and brutal story into a light and gentle sketch which failed to capture the gut-wrenching details present in the original text. The same isn’t the case here, with Tempesta truly capturing the chaotic nature of Ovid’s creation story. The giant clashes between elemental forces are represented here in the turbulent background, which depicts waves crashing against towering rocks, all the while various forms of life haphazardly rise from the water. Unlike stories like the Christian creation myth, which cleanly tell the story of how God created the universe in an orderly fashion, Ovid’s rendition is one of cataclysmic destruction and creation, not as much a thing of beauty as a part of the natural process. Tempesta also manages to include this more objective view, as the piece neither glorifies or condemns the events depicted. Overall, “The Creation of the World” is able to capture one of the most important stories in the Metamorphoses in the way it was always intended.
When it comes to scale in religious texts, nothing comes close to that of the creation myth. In countless religions there is a story which establishes the fundamental principles of the world, its key deities, and an answer to the worshiper's question of how do we exist? In order to have a story that answers all of these questions, the author is going to have to break some literary and poetic conventions. Due to its scale and unique structure, the creation myth is entirely different from other more conventional stories. There is no central antagonist, or character arc: it entirely focuses on a simple yet grand act of creation, which Ovid shows through his unique meter. In most Latin poetry the spondee is used to emphasize certain syllables, as a way of indicating to the audience what parts of a story is most important. By choosing using a borderline excessive amount of spondees every syllable is emphasized, letting the audience know that, as the story which describes the worlds inception, every single foot of it is crucial. Additionally, like other creation myths, Ovid constructs his as a process of increasing complexity: we start with the creation of a simple earth which separates sea from sky, to the creation of more specific elements, and ultimately to the creation of Humans. This structure also means Ovid is unable to include what is often a defining trait of his work: a message to accompany a story's conclusion. Unlike tales like Narcissus or Baucis and Philemon, here Ovid has no final remarks on how to be a better person or stop bad behavior. Ultimately, Ovid sets this story apart through utilizing a unique structure, meter, and themes.
Artistic Analysis Essay:
Antonio Tempesta’s “The Creation of the World” is one of the rare artistic works to truly capture the spirit of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. More often than not (especially during the Renaissance and Baroque periods), interpretations of Ovid’s work was censored and made more appealing to contemporary sensibilities. I covered such a work in my previous Ovid Project on another story from the Metamorphoses, “The Raven”. In that work the artist had turned a dark and brutal story into a light and gentle sketch which failed to capture the gut-wrenching details present in the original text. The same isn’t the case here, with Tempesta truly capturing the chaotic nature of Ovid’s creation story. The giant clashes between elemental forces are represented here in the turbulent background, which depicts waves crashing against towering rocks, all the while various forms of life haphazardly rise from the water. Unlike stories like the Christian creation myth, which cleanly tell the story of how God created the universe in an orderly fashion, Ovid’s rendition is one of cataclysmic destruction and creation, not as much a thing of beauty as a part of the natural process. Tempesta also manages to include this more objective view, as the piece neither glorifies or condemns the events depicted. Overall, “The Creation of the World” is able to capture one of the most important stories in the Metamorphoses in the way it was always intended.