Having only previously read Ovid's love poems, I find this work illuminating. Here is his talent, his way with words, the reason for his legacy. My favorite quotes were:From the Age of Gold (in Four Ages)"Cities had not dug themselves inBehind deep moats, guarded by towers.No sword had bitten its own Reflection in the shield. No trumpetsMagnified the battle-criesOf lions and bullsOut through the mouth-holes in helmets."From the Age of Iron"Now sails bulged and the cordage crackedIn winds that st...

Myth can pretty much encapsulate everything through the device of archetypes - and that is what Ovid does. Then comes the psychological interpretation of Ted Hughes to elucidate and modernise these archetypes. These are tales of psychological metamorphosis - and probably my favourite book of poetry.

Wat hou ik van deze verhalen. Sommige vertellingen herinnerde ik me nog omdat ik ze ooit als tiener uit het Latijn moest vertalen. Ik vertelde 3 verhalen - Phaeton, Callisto & Arcas en Echo & Narcissus- ook aan mijn zonen omdat ze zo mooi en magisch zijn. How I loved reading these tales. I remembered some of them because I had to translate them from Latin as a teenager. I told three stories - Phaeton, Callisto & Arcas and Echo & Narcissus - to my sons because they're so beautiful and magical.

As I was reading this, I kept taking pictures of some parts of the text and sending them over to some of my friends. At one point, one of my friend was like, "The f*** you're reading?" That is exactly how it feels to read this. Entertaining but insane. At least now I know where Shakespeare got his inspiration for Romeo & Juliet (read: Pyramus and Thisbe). There are some obvious anachronisms in Ted Hughes's translation but the whole thing flows better for it. I also don't think I would have got a...

Hughes has managed to preserve the essence of Ovid's own text, while still imbuing the work with a distinct Hughesian touch. I also liked the selection of tales, and as each one one wrapped up to a finish, I found myself waiting for the expected metamorphosis that either offered some sort of solace for the reader, or gave me an etymological Eureka moment. If you love Greek mythology, this book illustrates these tales in a beautifully lucid and scintillating way.

nothing against ted hughes, or ovid, but i just get bored after a while. partly because of all the long crazy greek names and the fact that i'm supposed to know who these people and places are, which i don't (and don't care to) and partly just because after the first couple it's really easy to see where things are going (or at least how things are going to get there). some of the stories work better than others... callisto and arcas is pretty devastating, and tereus is amazing, and there are lot...

i felt like the line and rhythm of the translation, or rather the poetry resulting from the translation, since i can't read latin, sagged a little in the middle before rebounding at the end. but yeah these are wonderful stories. they are themselves retellings and expansions of foundational myths, based on who knows what, then retold and expanded themselves, and constantly reborn and dismantled.these versions bring across the insanity and magic of desire so well. also totally PG-13. hella people

I read this several days ago whilst in Cornwall, not all at once. Having just finished The Metamorphoses I found this in an Oxfam charity shop in Devon (prior to then travelling to Cornwall, where I proceeded to read it on the beach). During my time reading both this and through the Metamorphoses, ironically, I've been facing some changes in my life (not quite being changed into a bird or a rock by the Gods) but certainly some changes, large enough to seem significant. I always find it odd how w...

Ted Hughes' translation/interpretation of some of the tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses is a really good example of the way translation is always an interpretation -- he's played to that, and used anachronistic images and modern language, and created something dynamic and energetic and entirely his. It's much like the way Seamus Heaney and Simon Armitage took Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and used their own dialects to flavour it, bringing in what felt appropriate to them and what mi...

This is not really a "translation," since in rendering certain well known stories from the Metamorphoses into English Hughes makes up stuff out of thin air, sometimes quite a lot of material that is nowhere found in Ovid's Latin text. But why should that be a problem? This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of work, one that effectively captures the essence of Ovid's brilliant style: the shifting narrative tones, authorial interventions, subtle (and not so subtle) ironies, and storytelling that is

Loved these. Greek and Roman myths are some of my favourite things to read. I don't know how much was Ovid's original and how much was Hughes' translation, but it felt like a perfect blending of the two.

If I had picked up this book without ever having read the tales of Ovid, I might have enjoyed it merely for the fantastic stories of transformation, which are engagingly told in a rhythm that seemed more modern than timeless to me. But since I was already familiar with the tales, what really kept me turning the pages was Ted Hughes' creativity as a translator. Throughout the book there are passages that startled me with vivid imagery. His use of anachronistic language and concepts made me change...

This is a selection of poems from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," and not the whole work. That said, Ted Hughes was a great poet in his own right and captures Ovid's flair and sardonic charm. Though there are complete translations of the "Metamorphoses" out there (including an excellent translation by Rolfe Humphries), this would be my first choice for someone wanting to get a good taste of Ovid.

 The Poetry of PassionThe brief but brilliant introduction by former English Poet Laureate Ted Hughes to his Tales from Ovid says that the poems tell "what is feels like to live in the psychological gulf that opens at the end of an era." He might well have been talking about the end of his own century; the collection was published in 1997. But no, he was referring to the original date of Ovid's Metamorphoses themselves, 8 CE, when "the obsolete paraphernalia of the old official religion were lyi...

I've not read any other translations of Ovid and I don't know Latin, so I have little choice but to take these selections from the Metamorphoses at face value.That value is very high: Hughes writes gripping, driving poetry that impatiently whips you along the narrative, with hardly a chance to catch your breathe sometimes. Faster paced than many a novel, there is no chance of being lulled to sleep by endless iambs here. Startling, powerful, often brutal metaphors pay no heed to shouts of "Anachr...

A retelling of 24 of the over 100 tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. This translation is delivered in free verse. The stories included are: Creation; Pygmalion; Hercules; Arachne; Midas; and Pyramus and Thisbe.Hughes poetry is delicious, and a further aid to help me get a rounder sense of Ovid’s text. Hughes, unlike the other two translations I have read (Golding and Raeburn) allowed himself to deliver his poetry in free verse. In doing so, his telling is done in fewer brushstrokes but what’s amaz...

Like you, like us all, I've been meaning to read the Metamorphoses for, like, ever. The intro to this gorgeously-translated edition highlights the intense passion with which Ovid was so preoccupied, and the ways that's resonated across millennia is pretty amazing. However, as with most classics, I don't feel I've got a lot to say on this one except: if you can put aside what a dick Ted Hughes was, you're in for something pretty fucking exceptional. I spent ages trying to find the "right" transla...

Ovid's Metamorphoses can be a delight for anyone who loves classical mythology, a good complement to the versions of tales you learned from Bulfinch, Hamilton, the D'Aulaires, etc. Besides, Ovid gives you the sex and violence too, which those nice children's illustrated versions leave out.There are many translations of Metamorphoses available, but one I definitely would recommend is Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes. As the title suggests, this is not a literal translation and does not contain every...

Hughes is one of the great English poets of the 20th century, a terrific translator, and an inventor of his own mythology. His selection from Ovid's masterpiece is no substitute for the full version, but it's a powerful, satisfying recapitulation of the most famous episodes.

kiss my ass ted hughes