Personification in Ovid's Metamorphoses : Innuidia, Fames, Somnus, Fama

Modern scholarship on the Metamorphoses has frequently focused on the shifting
character of the poem mainly produced by the constant variation in tone and diverse
subject matter. Particular emphasis has fallen on the multiple stylistic features Ovid
uses to appeal to a learned audience. This thesis focuses on and explores the use of
personification ekphraseis which are illustrative examples of the poet's innovative
technique, wit and style. Four major personified figures, Inuidia, Fames, Somnus and
Fama play significant roles and figure prominently in the books where they appear.
The study is divided into four main chapters where the four extended personification
ekphraseis are individually treated. Each setting that Ovid creates for the figures
bears its own corresponding reality. So their presence in the different episodes
becomes both natural and amusing. Ovid displays a certain structural progression in
the use of personification beginning with theriomorphic representations (Inuidia,
Fames) and ending with more abstract descriptions (Somnus, Fama). The discussion
also focuses on the various ways Ovid uses personification and offers close readings
of thematic links and literary echoes. This study re-examines the aesthetics and
narrative significance of the personification ekphraseis. It argues that, although
connected to the rhetorical technique of enargeia and thus closely attached to the
simple poetic intent of enlivening the style, the personifications have broader
thematic implications which make them precious in the study of Ovid's ingenium.
The initial question of how Ovid incorporates the four personifications in the
narrative of each myth is developed into a broader investigation of their relevance in
the world of the poem. The discussion leads to the conclusion that Inuidia, Fames,
Somnus and Fama as poetic devices are both representative samples of stylistic
ornamentation that enable the visual perception of what Ovid is describing and
markers of generic boundaries between elegy and epic; the indiscriminate blending
of epic and un-epic terminology creates a strong connection with the poet's aims
stated in the opening lines of the Metamorphoses. In this sense, the four
personification ekphraseis figure as reflections both of the poet and the poem.