Key Facts
full title · Metamorphoses
author · Ovid
type of work · Poetry
genre · Epic poetry of various genres: love, didactic, tragic,
and comic
language · Latin
time and place written · Rome, a.d. 8
date of first publication · a.d. 8
narrator · “Ovid,” a fictionalized version of Ovid, is the overarching narrator.
However, the books are narrated in various voices.
point of view · Varied
tense · Past
setting (time) · Imperial Rome
setting (place) · Rome
protagonist · Varied
major conflict · Mortals and the gods struggle.
rising action · Rome rises.
climax · Rome is founded.
falling action · Ovid predicts a great future for Rome.
themes · The pervasiveness of metamorphoses; the power of art;
the sadness of love
motifs · Storytelling; punishment; reward
symbols · Lost speech
foreshadowing · Pygmalion's successful creation foreshadows Orpheus's
reunion with Eurydice; Ovid foreshadows the permanence of his own work.
